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XXX. 



By the same Author, 

THE CHUECH of ST. PATRICK: an Historical 

Inquiry into the Independence of the Ancient Church in 
Ireland. 



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a ipistorp 



ANCIENT CHURCH IN IRELAND. 



WILLIAM G. TODD, A.B. 

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN ; 
CURATE OF KILKEEDY, DIOCESE OF LIMERICK 



' Why hast tliou then broken down her hedge, that all they that go by pluck oli 
her grapes ?" 




/ 
LONDON: 

JAMES BURNS, 17 PORTMAN STREET, 

P0RT3IAN SQUARE. 



1845. 






4" 



PREFACE. 



Although the Author of the following pages 
has taken some pains to write a popular His- 
tory of the Irish Church in a fair and im- 
partial spirit, yet he is sensible that the result 
of his labours falls far short of his own wishes. 
He is fully aware that it ought to be the aim of 
every writer of Church History both to speak 
with reverence of the ancient Saints, and, in 
reviewing their times, not to judge the actions 
of the past by the standard of the present, 
as if this were invariably a sure and infallible 
criterion. It is not, however, always easy to 
avoid falling into this mistake. When obliged 
to pass an opinion on the conduct of historical 
characters, one is very apt to say, " This man 
did wrong," or " Such a one acted injudiciously," 



VI PREFACE. 

because, according to modern notions, a parti- 
cular course of conduct might be so regarded. 
The historian, it is true, should record facts, 
and not his own views of them; and the best 
history is that wherein the author scarcely ap- 
pears at all. But circumstances sometimes arise 
which render it desirable for a writer to deviate 
a little from this canon ; and in such a case, it 
does not fall to the lot of every one (and cer- 
tainly not of the present writer) to be able to 
grasp the whole truth, without the fear of being 
blinded by prejudice, or drawn aside by pre- 
conceived notions. This, then, must be his apo- 
logy, should the reader discover in the following 
pages any unreal pictures of the past. It would 
of course be presumptuous in the author to sup- 
pose that no such picture is to be found : suffi- 
cient for himself the consciousness that it has 
been his endeavour, in every instance, to dis- 
cover the whole truth, to record it fairly, and 
not to distort it by any unnecessary comments. 

But this work can lay claim to no other merit 
than that of being a faithful compilation from 
the received authorities. It has been compiled 



PREFACE. VU 

from Colgan, Ussher, and other authors of cre- 
dit. As far as possible, the writer consulted such 
original sources as were within his reach. He 
owes much to the " Ecclesiastical History of 
Ireland^' by the late learned Dr. Lanigan, whose 
memory must be gratefully cherished by every 
student of Irish Church Histoiy : yet it will 
be found that he has not placed an implicit 
reliance upon the authority of Dr. Lanigan, 
although it is deservedly high. Where Lani- 
gan differed from Colgan and the older autho- 
rities, it seemed fitting to follow^ these, who had 
better means of knowing the truth than were 
within that author's reach; and, besides. Dr. 
Lanigan appears to have been somewhat capri- 
cious in the way in which he deals with hitherto 
received historical facts and the most ancient 
traditions, — very often rejecting what, up to his 
time, had been admitted by the best-informed 
writers ; so that his work, although the result of 
great labour and learning, and indispensable to 
the student of Irish history, must at times be 
received with caution in some of its statements. 

It is desirable to observe, that a great part 



of the present volume was written before the 
publication of an interesting little work, " A 
Primer of the Church History of Ireland," by 
the Rev. Robert King. And the writer must 
not omit to express the obligation he is under 
to his friend, Mr. Eugene Curry, for some im- 
portant information from the Irish manuscripts. 

W. G. T. 

Clarina, Limerick^ 
June 30, 1845. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introduction and early progress of Christianity . . 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Life and mission of St. Patrick 6 

CHAPTER III. 
The religion of the ancient Irish 17 

CHAPTER IV. 

Benignus succeeds Patrick — Early monastic founda- 
tions — St. Bridgit — Church of Kildare — School of 
Clonard — St. Sinan — Monastery of Bangor — Celi- 
bacy of the clergy — Irish bishoprics ... 26 

CHAPTER V. 

The life of St. Colum-cille — Character of his succes- 
sors — Adamnan 36 

CHAPTER VI. 
The controversy respecting Easter .... 47 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

St. Columbanus — The Culdees — Aengus the Hagiologist 53 

CHAPTER VIII. 

St. Kilian, bishop of Franconia — Virgilius of Saltz- 
burg — Clemens and Albinus — John Scotus Erigena — 
Irish missionaries to Iceland . . . . .71 

CHAPTER IX. 

The invasion of the Danes — Their conversion to Chris- 
tianity — Battle of Clontarf — Death of Brian Boru — 
Cormac bishop of Cashel 82 

CHAPTER X. 

Usurpation of the see of Armagh, and of abbey-lands — 
Comorbans — Erenachs — Epistle of Lanfranc of Can- 
terbury 90 

CHAPTER XI. 

Gillebert, bishop of Limerick — His plan of reformation 
— Celsus, archbishop of Armagh — Synod of Fiadh- 
mac-sengussa — -Office of apostolic legate introduced 
into Ireland — Synod of Rath-Breasail — St. Malachy 102 

CHAPTER XII. 

Arrival of Cardinal Paparo — Synod of KeUs — Dermod 

Mac-Murchad — English invasion — Synod of Cashel . 118 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Synod of Waterford — Bulls of Adrian IV. and Alexander 

III. — Laurence O' Toole, archbishop of Dublin . 128 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PAGE 

John Cumin, first English archbishop of Dublin — En- 
glishmen promoted to Irish dignities — Synod of 
Dublin — Its acts — Consequences of the English inva- 
sion — Remarks on the policy adopted towards the 
Irish 137 

CHAPTER XV. 

Causes of the decline of religion — Liberality of the bi- 
shops — Unsuccessful efforts to establish an university 

— Richard Fitz-Ralph — Abuse of excommunication 

— Indulgences — Temporal power of the popes — 
Conclusion . . . . . . . .160 

Appendix 181 

Index 197 



THE 



CHURCH IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION AND EARLY PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 

There is a period in all histories when conjecture 
must supply the place of authentic fact. This is in 
an especial manner the case in the earlier history of 
Christian Churches, when the only persons to record 
the passing events were themselves engaged in more 
pressing avocations. Such men could have little 
leisure to commit to writing the success or failure 
of their missionary exertions. They were content 
to sow the seed that was afterwards to spring up 
and bear a rich harvest ; not solicitous about their 
own fame, or anxious for the praise of men. In 
man}^ cases, also, no apparent success could crown 
their labours during their own lifetime. So difficult 
is it to prepare the neglected soil for the reception 
of true religion — - to make " the crooked straight 
and the rough places plain" — that although the 
seed has taken root, its growth and progress may 

B 



2 INTRODUCTION AND EARLY 

be too slow and feeble even to cheer on with hope 
those who are engaged in the task. Thus they 
would have little to narrate, except their own fears 
and fruitless exertions, the opposition they had met 
with, and the persecutions they had endured. But 
such events a strong religious principle would not 
permit them to record ; they therefore laboured in 
silence, yet in faith, expecting to reap the fruits of 
their toil in a future world. 

Whether it be from want of authentic informa- 
tion, or from the existence of a general tradition, 
it is impossible to say ; but it is certain, that most 
of the ancient European Churches have wished to 
connect their plantation with the personal preaching 
of the Apostles, or their immediate followers. Thus, 
St. Paul is said, with much probability, to have 
visited Britain, and some have gone so far as to 
hint that he extended his visit to Ireland; others 
have wildly asserted, that Christianity was intro- 
duced into Ireland by St. James the Great; while 
a third, and more numerous party, tell us of Asiatic 
missionaries, — perhaps, they say, some of those who 
accompanied Pothinus and St. Irenaeus into Gaul 
in the second century. All these conjectures are 
insufficiently proved ; and, if we are to be guided 
by mere considerations of comparative probability, 
England rather than any other country must be 
looked to, for the first missionaries to the Irish 
coasts. The period of their arrival is very likely 
to have been the early part of the fourth century. 



CH. I.J PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 3 

when British Christians may have sought refuge in 
Ireland from the fury of the Diocletian persecution, 
then raging throughout all the provinces of the 
Roman empire ; for, as Ireland was beyond the 
boundary of the emperor's dominions, it was almost 
the only place that could afford an asylum to the 
Christians, until the return of peace and security. 

Christianity was for a long time confined to the 
southern portion of the island; but even here its 
progress was slow. A few families and solitary 
hermits constituted the infant Church. A strong 
and apparently well-founded tradition asserts, that 
among these there were four bishops, — Kiaran, 
Declan, Ailbe, and Ibar. Kiaran has received the 
honorary title of " First-born of the Saints of Ire- 
land," and is commonly regarded as the first bishop 
of Ossory. Declan lived at Ardmore, in the county 
of Waterford, where a succession of bishops was 
kept up for some time after his death. Ailbe is 
reported to have been the first bishop of Emly ; 
and Ibar passed a very strict life in the island of 
Beg-erin (or Little Erin),^ where the ruins of his 
small cell, or monastery, are still to be seen. It 
would be wrong, because these bishops are some of 
them considered the founders of sees, to suppose 
that they had any fixed sphere of duty. They were 
rather plain and zealous ascetics, who endeavoured 
to live by some strict rule of piety. No doubt they 
did what they could towards the conversion of their 
^ Situated near the town of Wexford. 



4 INTRODUCTION AND EARLY 

countrymen ; but the state of the Church for a long 
time was not such as to give them either clergy to 
govern, or dioceses to take the charge of. It was 
respect for the memories of these holy persons 
which caused the places of their abode to become 
ever afterwards the residences of bishops.^ 

The attention of the Roman bishop was at 
length attracted to the spiritual destitution of Ire- 
land. No sooner was it made known to Celestine I., 
who then occupied the chair of Rome, that the 
Irish Christians needed some experienced head to 
regulate their ecclesiastical discipline, and to pro- 
vide for the extension of Christianity, than he or- 
dained and sent, as St. Prosper informs us, " to the 
Scots believing in Christ, Palladius, once a deacon 
of the Roman Church, to be their first or chiefs 
bishop." 

* These bishops, it must be remarked, were Hving at the 
period of St. Patrick's mission. All that is known about 
them may be learned in Ussher's Brit. EccL Antiq. cap. xvi. 
(Works, vol. vi. p. 332, &c.), Colgan's Tr. Th. p. 250, &c., 
and A A. SS. p. 458, &c. Dr. Lanigan has bestowed much 
learning on his attempt to prove that these bishops were not 
in Ireland at the early period assigned to them. I have 
weighed his arguments with some attention, and am satisfied 
that they are inconclusive. If correct, they would prove more 
than he would have wished. 

2 So Prosper's phrase, "primus episcopus," is understood 
by Ussher. Palladius is styled ^^ primus Scotorum episcopus,'' 
in the same sense as St. Austin has been called ** primus 
Anglorum episcopus" (vide Ussher, vol. vi. p. 288). Neither, 
strictly speaking, were the first bishops of the countries they 



CH. I.] PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 5 

This Palladius was already known for his ef- 
forts to suppress the Pelagian heresy in Britain, his 
native country ; for it was at his instigation that 
Celestine sent St. Germain of Auxerre into Eng- 
land, in the hope that his exertions might reclaim 
those British Christians who had lapsed from the 
right faith. The mission of Palladius to Ireland 
was unattended with success. Early in the year 
431, he landed in the ancient territory of Hy- 
Garchon — which was nearly co-extensive with the 
present counties of Wicklow and Wexford — and was 
at first well received by the inhabitants. Tradition 
says, that he erected three churches for the con- 
verts who believed through his means ; but a dis- 
agreement that sprung up between him and Nathi, 
the pagan chieftain of Hy-Garchon, terminated 
fatally to the mission. Palladius was obliged to 
consult for his own safety by flight. He retired 
into North Britain, and is believed to have ended 
his days at the town of Fordun, in Mearnshire. 
The failure of his mission gave rise to a proverb 
among the Irish, that " not to Palladius, but to 
Patrick, did the Lord grant the conversion of 
Ireland." 

visited ; and consequently the word primus must mean pri- 
marius, or chief bishop. 



B "-Z 



LIFE AND MISSION OF 



CHAPTER II. 

LIFE AND MISSION OF ST. PATRICK. 

Whek the failure of Palladius's mission became 
known abroad, it fell to the lot of St. Patrick to 
enter upon an undertaking that was likely to be 
attended with much danger and little success. The 
result, however, was very different; for, after 
making every allowance for the exaggerations that 
may naturally be expected in the legends of this 
bishop, it must notwithstanding be acknowledged, 
that the extension of the Christian religion among 
the Irish was mainly owing to the assiduity of his 
labours. 

St. Patrick — whose original name was Succat — 
was born in a.d. 372, at Nemthur, among the 
Britons of Alcluaid, which was apparently the an- 
cient name of the modern Dunbarton. His father 
was Calphornius, an illustrious priest, the son of 
Olid, or Potitus, a deacon.^ At the age of six- 
teen Patrick was taken captive by a company of 

^ This is according to the Irish Life, preserved in the 
Leabhar Breac, an ancient manuscript collection of valuable 
Irish tracts, in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. But 
the Confession of St. Patrick makes Calphornius a deacon, 
and Potitus a priest. 



CH. II.] ST. PATRICK. 7 

pirates, and carried into Ireland. Here he became 
the slave of a chieftain named Milcho, whose re- 
sidence was within the ancient territory of Dal- 
aradia. His occupation, while with this master, 
was to look after the sheep ; an employment not 
very distasteful to him, inasmuch as it afforded him 
many opportunities of meditation and prayer, with- 
out the risk of interruption. 

He remained in this situation for the space of 
six years ; and when at length he recovered his 
liberty, it was only to be re-captured. It is well 
known that at that remote period, Britain was 
greatly exposed to the inroads of the Picts and 
Scots, who, removed but a few degrees from bar- 
barism, used to delight in any excursions that 
promised danger and plunder. A fruitful source 
of gain to them was the sale of captives as slaves 
in Ireland. This traffic not only existed in the 
country previous to the introduction of Christianity, 
but there is reason to fear that it prevailed in it 
to some extent until the arrival of the English in 
the twelfth century. 

The term of St. Patrick's second captivity, how- 
ever, was but sixty days. Upon its expiration, he 
returned once more to his family, who entreated 
him to continue with them, and not to put into 
execution the purpose he had conceived of passing 
over into Gaul, and there devoting himself to a 
holy life. But he was not to be moved from his 
resolution, and perhaps was strengthened in it by 



S LIFE AND MISSION OF 

a dream which he had about this time.^ In the 
vision of the night, he perceived a man named 
Victricius coming as if from Ireland, with a vast 
number of letters. He gave him one of them, and 
he read the commencement of the letter — "The 
voice of the Irish." He had scarcely begun perus- 
ing this epistle, when he heard the inhabitants of 
the wood Foclut calling to him, as it were with 
one mouth, " We entreat thee, holy youth, come 
and still walk amongst us." There is no reason 
to doubt the probability of his having had such 
a dream. St. Patrick was much affected by it; 
and it probably had the effect of hastening his 
departure from Britain, in the hope of returning, 
in some future years, duly prepared to preach the 
gospel in the land of his captivity. In Gaul, he 
spent four years in the monastery then but recently 
founded by St. Martin at Tours. He also studied 
with St. Germain of Auxerre, under whose direc- 
tions he acquired a knowledge of " the ecclesias- 
tical canons, and served God in labours, in fastings, 
in chastity of life, in contrition of heart, and in the 
love of God and of his neighbour."^ 

Passing over other events of his life, we come 
to the period of his call to Ireland. He was in the 
north-west of Gaul when the failure of Palladius's 
mission became known to him. A Galilean bishop 

^ Vide Confessio, cap. iii. (Opuscula S. Patricii, p. 194: 
Dub. 1835). 

-- Vide Vita Trip. lib. i. cap. 31 ; Colgan's Tr. Th. p. 121. 



CH. II.] ST. PATRICK. 9 

admitted him to episcopal orders ; and supported 
by the approbation of Pope Celestine — some say 
commissioned by his authority ^ — he soon after- 
wards set forth for Ireland, accompanied by some 
priests and deacons, who had been ordained along 
with him. 

The missionary party arrived in Ireland in the 
year 432. They landed at the place now occu- 
pied by the town of Wicklow ; and, after making 
a short stay on the Isle of Holmpatrick, proceeded 
to visit St. Patrick's former master, Milcho, in 
Dal-aradia. The object of this visit was to convert 
Milcho and his family to the Christian faith, and 
thus to make the best possible return for any kind- 
ness that might have been shewn St. Patrick in 
the days of his captivity. They went on their way 
with light hearts and high hopes, for St. Patrick 
already had a foretaste of the success that was to 
attend his mission. During his brief sojourn in 
Wicklow, he succeeded in bringing over to the 
faith Sinell, the son of Finnchad, who was the first 
of the Irish whom he baptised. He also converted 
Dicho, a northern chieftain, with whom he had 
lodged on the way to his former master's. This 
Dicho bestowed the place on which his barn was 
erected upon St. Patrick, as a site for a church. 

^ The Irish Life, in the Leabhar Breac^ says that Patrick 
did visit Rome, but that he was made a bishop before that 
event ; and that on the failure of Palladius's mission he was 
ordered by Celestine to replace him. Vide Appendix. 



10 LIFE AND MISSION OF 

It was named Sabhul Podruig, " the barn of Pa- 
trick," and its ruins are still to be seen at Saul, in 
the county of Down.^ It is a small stone church, 
looking from north to south, instead of the more 
usual aspect. One of St. Patrick's biographers 
notices this circumstance particularly, and informs 
us, that " it was so built at the request of Dicho, 
he knows not for what reason ; but perhaps," he 
adds, " that the worshippers of idols might be 
roused, by this mystical building, from the chill 
of infidelity to the warmth of Christian faith and 
charity."^ The chieftain Dicho remained St. Pa- 
trick's steady friend during the rest of his life ; 
and Saul itself became his favourite retreat in his 
latter days. 

The hopes with which this success inspired St. 
Patrick were not realised. He found his former 
master, Milcho, an obstinate pagan, not to be 
reasoned out of his besotted idolatry. Returning, 
therefore, to Dicho, he continued to preach to the 
Irish in that part of the island, until near the Easter 
of the following year, 433, when he changed the 
scene of his labours, with a view to visit Tara, 
then the capital of Ireland. 

Tara, or Temora, situated in the county of 
Meath, was known from the most remote antiquity 
as the royal residence of the monarchs of Ireland. 

1 The Irisli word Sabhul is pronounced nearly Saul. 

2 Vide Jocelyn's Vita S. Patricii, cap. 32. (Colgan's Tr. 
Th. p. 72). 



Ch. II.] ST. PATRICK. 11 

Intimately associated with the most cherished tra- 
ditions of the Irish people, the halls of Tara have 
been made the scene of many strange adventures. 
Of its pretensions to antiquity and pre-eminence 
it is impossible to form any opinion from its pre- 
sent condition, since the unsparing hand of time 
(lately assisted by the avaricious plough) has de- 
stroyed almost every vestige of its ancient state. It 
is quite true, however, that it once enjoyed what- 
ever of distinction and rude grandeur may have 
belonged to the sovereigns of an ancient people, 
imperfectly civilised. The legend-writers tell a 
strange story, how it was cursed by a monk, named 
Rodan, or Ruadhan, because Dermott, king of Ire- 
land, came to his cell, and dragged out of it a kins- 
man of the monk, who had fled there for sanctuary. 
From that time, they say, it has been a deserted 
waste. ^ 

The most interesting event that ever occurred 
at Tara was the attempt made by St. Patrick to 
convert the king and chieftains of Ireland. It was 
Easter-eve when St. Patrick, in the course of his 
journey from Ulster, had arrived at a place called 
in the Irish language Ferta-Jir-feic^ or " the graves 
of the men of Feic." Here he resolved to pass the 

^ The desertion of Tara took place in the year 565. The 
reader who may feel interested in the history of this ancient 
place is referred to Mr. Petrie's essay ** On the History and 
Antiquities of Tara Hill," published amongst the Transactions 
of the Royal Irish Academy. 



12 LIFE AND MISSION UF 

night; and accordingly his companions lighted a 
fire, most probably to prepare their food.^ But it 
happened that about this time also the Irish chief- 
tains were assembled at the celebration of one of 
their religious festivals ; and it was the privilege 
of Tara, that none should presume to light a fire 
in Ireland upon that day until the sacred fire had 
been first lighted at the solemnity. This privilege 
St. Patrick ignorantly violated ; and when Leogaire, 
the Irish monarch, heard the fact, he became much 
alarmed. The story adds, that his magi, equally ter- 
rified by their superstitious fears, urged him to make 
prompt exertions to have that strange fire extin- 
guished. They told him that, unless it were put out 
before nightfall, whoever had caused it to be lighted 
would hereafter enjoy the sovereignty of Ireland. 
Leogaire accordingly set out at once to put the 
unknown ofiender of his laws to death ; but in this 
purpose he was disappointed. Having next tried 
in vain to accomplish his object by indirect means, 
he appears to have at last relented ; and, forgetful 
of the danger threatened to his dominions, he in- 
vited Patrick to the palace of Tara. The invitation 
was at once accepted. With eight companions, and 
a young boy named Benen, or Benignus — after- 
wards his successor in the see of Armagh — St. 
Patrick appeared before the king and chieftains 
upon the following day, which was Easter Sunday. 
So favourable an opportunity for declaring the high 

^ Vide Appendix. 



CH. II.] ST. PATRICK, 13 

objects of his mission the zealous bishop did not 
overlook ; and, notwithstanding the opposition of 
the pagan priests, his preaching was most success- 
ful. He gained over to the Gospel several zealous 
converts. Among them were a celebrated bard 
named Dubtach, and his young disciple Fiech, who 
afterwards lived a bishop at Sletty. It is even said 
that Leogaire himself — although at first he with- 
stood him — crying out with tears, "It is better to 
believe than perish," was added to the number of 
the faithful. 

The success attending this first public preach- 
ing of the Gospel naturally increased the ardour of 
the missionaries, who spent the following week in 
preaching to the people in the surrounding dis- 
tricts, and in baptising their converts. Some of 
these were men of high rank, who were liberal in 
their donations to the infant Church. Conall, a bro- 
ther of King Leogaire, gave the ground on which 
his own hall stood as a site for a church, Enda, 
another brother, immediately upon his conversion 
both dedicated his infant son to a religious life, and 
consigned to the service of religion the ninth part 
of all his lands and farms. 

In the course of St. Patrick's missionary jour- 
neyings, he visited also the south of Ireland, j^ngus, 
the king of Cashel, received him courteously, lis- 
tened to his preaching, and became a convert ; but 
the earlier Christians of the countrj^ — especially the 
bishops Ailbe, Declan, Kiaran, and Ibar — did not 
c 



14 LIFE AND MISSION OF 

give him so glad a welcome. They either had not 
been made acquainted with the extent of his exer- 
tions among their pagan countrymen, or they had 
some fears lest the object of his visit might be to 
claim supremacy over them. It is expressly stated, 
that Ibar would on no account submit to him, be- 
cause he did not wish a foreigner to be the patron of 
Ireland, At length, however, their differences were 
made up, and they were persuaded to co-operate 
with each other in a more cordial spirit.^ St. Pa- 
trick after this returned to the north, where we 
next find him engaged in the foundation of the 
see of Armagh, the date of which event is assigned 
to the year ^S6. From this time he appears to 
have ceased in a measure from more arduous la- 
bours, and to have employed himself in holding 
synods for the settlement of the Church. Several 
of the canons enacted in these councils are still in 
existence, and they serve to elucidate many of the 
doctrines and customs of the early Irish Church. 
Whatever time St. Patrick could spare from these 
important avocations was passed in retirement at 
Saul, where, in prayer and meditation, he ended his 
days. He lived to an advanced age, and was buried 
near the site of the present cathedral of Down. 

Several tracts have been ascribed to St. Pa- 
trick, two of which may be noticed in this place. 
The first is entitled. The Confession of St. Patrick. 

^ Ussher's Brit. Eccl. Antiq. cap. xvi. (Works, vol. vi. 
p. 355), and cap. xvii. p. 427. 



CH. II.] ST. PATRICK. 15 

It is a kind of autobiography, and is very probably 
genuine; certainly it is assigned to him in the Book 
of Armagh, a manuscript of the seventh century. 
His object in writing it was to return thanks to the 
Almighty for his singular mercies to himself and to 
the Irish people ; and to confirm them in their faith, 
by proving that God had assisted him in a most 
extraordinary manner, for the purpose of effecting 
their conversion.^ 

Another probably genuine work of St. Patrick 
is an Epistle to the Christian Subjects of Coroticus, 
This Coroticus, or Carodoc, was a Welsh chieftain, 
who, with a party of soldiers (some of whom were 
Christians), had murdered some recent converts of 
St. Patrick's, and had captured others, with the in- 
tention of selling them as slaves. In this letter, the 
justly incensed bishop pronounces the Christians 
implicated in such transactions to be excommuni- 
cated ; and forbids any one to eat or drink in their 
company, until, with many tears, and sincere re- 
pentance, they had atoned for their crime, and had 
set at liberty the servants and handmaids of God, 
for whom Christ died and was crucified.- 

From the obscure legends of his life, it is im- 
possible to give an accurate sketch of the character 
of St. Patrick. His biographers tell us, that he 
was remarkable for the meekness and gentleness of 

^ Lanigan, vol. i. p. 349. 

" The works attributed to St. Patrick may be seen in the 
OpusciUa S. Patricii, Dub. 1835. 



16 LIFE AND MISSION OF ST. PATRICK. 

his disposition ; and from this, and some other fan- 
cied resemblances, they are fond of drawing a com- 
parison between him and Moses. It is probably 
on this account that they represent him as having 
lived to the advanced age of 120 years. St. Pa- 
trick was an earnest preacher of the Gospel, pious, 
energetic, and full of zeal. His mind would appear 
to have been deeply imbued with the love of mon- 
astic institutions and of the eremetic life. He was 
neither a learned divine nor a pleasing writer, if it 
be fair to judge from the works attributed to him ; 
but he was a sincere and holy bishop in the Church 
of God, who performed the work of an evangelist 
in all honesty amongst the people of his adoption, 
and who committed to the Church (in the foun- 
dation of which he had so great a part) the same 
" tradition of the faith" as he had himself received 
from his Christian forefathers. Few of the ancient 
missionaries of the Church have been held in such 
reverent estimation by posterity ; and yet few have 
received so much injury from the legends and wild 
tales to which an over-zealous regard gave rise. 



CH. III.] RELIGION OF THE AXCIENT IRISH. 17 



CHAPTER III. 

THE RELIGION OF THE AXCIENT IRISH. 

Before leaving St. Patrick, it may be well to say 
something respecting the doctrine and discipline 
which he was the chief instrument in introducing 
into Ireland. Historians have written much upon 
the religion of the ancient Irish ; but it is to be 
feared that too many, drawn away by favourite 
theories, have, on this subject in particular, seen 
in the page of history the reflection of their own 
prejudices, rather than the true lesson it was in- 
tended to teach. 

It was natural that St. Patrick should introduce 
into Ireland that religious system in which he him- 
self had been trained ; in other words, the whole 
Church-system of the fifth century, as he had 
learned it during his long sojourn in Gaul and 
other parts of the Continent. Its prominent fea- 
tures were, dutiful submission to the Church, a 
sincere love for holy Scripture, an intimate ac- 
quaintance with its letter, particularly the Psalms 
and New Testament, and a readiness to practise 
self-discipline fairly and fully. Few of those who 
thought at ail seriously were content with a luke- 
warm religion and devotion to God. And if all 
c 2 



18 THE RELIGION OF 

manifested great affection for the memories of the 
saints, and reverence for their relics, this was not 
as yet carried beyond the proper limits ; nor was 
any sanction afforded to those unbecoming invo- 
cations which have since disfigured the public and 
private devotions of the faithful. Monasticism also 
was an essential portion of the Church -system of 
that age. Many who had the desire and oppor- 
tunity to aim at a life of greater perfection than 
fell to the lot of all, placed themselves under mon- 
astic discipline. Secluded from the world, they 
passed their days in a continual course of prayer 
and psalmody, fasting, labour, and study. 

The religious faith and discipline of the Church 
of the fifth century was then, in fact, extended to 
Ireland, after its conversion to Christianity. If 
there were any errors of doctrine, these were intro- 
duced also — the tares came with the wheat. Yet 
we cannot point to any erroneous dogmas that dis- 
figured the creed of the early Irish Church. The 
practice of invoking the saints prevailed in the 
eighth century ; but we know no evidence to prove 
that it obtained before that period. The doctrine 
of the eucharist was as yet uninjured by the inter- 
pretation of Paschase Radbert,^ and that of pur- 

^ In the Leahhar Breac there is an Irish sermon on the 
Lord's Supper, supposed to have been written in the eighth 
century. I have seen extracts from it, of what were considered 
to be its strongest passages. They fully bear out the assertion 
made abo^e. If the homily be not a translation fi'om one of 
the fathers, it might be well worth the expense of publication. 



CH. III.] THE ANCIENT IRISH. 19 

gatory was unknown to the Irish Christians until 
still later times. But the very ancient custom of 
praying for the souls of those who had departed 
this life in the faith and fear of God certainly did 
receive the sanction of the primitive Irish Church. 
We learn this by implication from an old canon, 
attributed to one of St. Patrick's synods, which 
directed the eucharist not to be offered for any 
who died in sin. " Hear the apostle saying. There 
is a sin unto death ; I do not say that ye should 
pray for it. And, Give not that which is holy unto 
the dogs. For he who deserved not to receive the 
sacrifice during his lifetime, how shall it help him 
after his death ?" 

It would appear to have been the judgment of 
the Irish Church, that baptism by laymen or schis- 
matics was not invalid, provided the baptised per- 
son received, at the time of his baptism, " the tradi- 
tion of the Creed." That the iniquity of the sower 
does not contaminate the seed sown, was the prin- 
ciple on which this conclusion was founded. 

The usual seasons for administering public bap- 
tism were Easter, Whitsuntide, and the Epiphany. 
The two former festivals were the recognised pe- 
riods throughout the whole Church ; but, so far as 
we know, Ireland was the only part of western 
Christendom where the feast of the Epiphany was 
superadded. 

The canons relating to the discipline of the clergy 
were verv strict. No clerk was to wander about 



20 THE RELIGION OF 

from place to place. In a strange diocese he was 
not to baptise, nor offer the eucharist, nor discharge 
any spiritual function. In like manner, no bishop 
was to presume to ordain in a diocese not his own, 
without the permission of its diocesan. However, 
as a mark of respect to his dignity, he was per- 
mitted to assist on the Lord's day in the offering 
of the eucharist. Should a clerk, through negli- 
gence, omit to attend the morning or evening col- 
lects, he w^as to be esteemed an alien. Should he 
once be excommunicated, he might be admitted 
again to communion, but could never recover his 
degree. A clerk coming from Britain without a 
letter of recommendation was not to be allowed 
the exercise of his ministry. If any clergyman re- 
ceived another who was excommunicated, both were 
to suffer the same punishment. 

The laws of the Church were very severe against 
any Christian who followed the example of the hea- 
then in consulting soothsayers, or believing any of 
their superstitions. In some cases, a year's penance, 
in others excommunication, was the punishment of 
this crime. And should a Christian be excommu- 
nicated, the Church directed that not even his alms 
were to be received. He was placed under the 
same ban as the heathen ; for there was an ex- 
press canon forbidding any alms offered by Gentiles 
(pagans) to be received into the Church. If a 
Christian sued another in a heathen court, and not 
before the Church, he was to be deprived of com- 



CH. III.] THE ANCIEJfT IRISH. 21 

munion. The same punishment was to fall upon 
all who were guilty of any flagrant sin. The people 
were called upon to pay due respect to their bishop, 
to assist him, and to minister to his wants ; and if 
any one should revile a good bishop, he was to 
do penance for seven days upon bread and water, 
after the example of Miriam murmuring against 
Moses. 

It is impossible to determine with accuracy how 
far the practice of private confession was carried in 
the Irish Church. But there is no reason to doubt 
that the Christians in Ireland, as elsewhere, did, on 
frequent occasions, make private or public confession 
of their faults ; in order " that they might receive," 
says Archbishop Ussher, " counsel and direction for 
their recovery, and be made partakers of the bene- 
fit of the keys, for the quieting of their troubled 
consciences." Without question, many errors, sub- 
sequently introduced, did not then disfigure this 
wholesome ordinance. We frequently read in the 
lives of the Irish saints, of their confessing particu- 
lar sins that oppressed their minds, and cheerfully 
accomplishing the imposed penance.^ And in more 
than one monastic rule the practice is enjoined, 
and directions given about it. 

The early Irish Christians paid great respect to 
the see of Rome, which was at that time superior 
to most other branches of the Church in piety, 
wealth, and zeal for the propagation of the faith. 

^ Vide Ussher, Religion of the Ancient Irish, chap. v. 



22 THE RELIGION OF 

Attracted by the report of its religious superiority, 
no less than by the natural desire to visit what all 
looked upon as an apostolical or mother Church, 
many Irish saints, from time to time, journeyed to 
the imperial city. Here they remained, frequenting 
the shrines of the apostles, or the tombs of the mar- 
tyrs, and conversing with learned Christians from 
every part of the world. Still it is a remarkable 
circumstance, that no official intercourse was kept 
up between Rome and Ireland for many centuries ; 
and although the friendly feeling alluded to for a 
long time existed between the two Churches, yet 
there is no communion in the west whose history 
contains such decisive evidence of its ancient in- 
dependence of the papal power. 

The political constitution of pagan Ireland was 
a serious impediment to the beneficial progress of 
the Church. The government of the country was 
lodged in the power of three orders — the kings, 
or chief of the nobility ; the Druids and Olamhs, 
or learned men ; and, lastly, the artisans. The 
kings governed the different provinces and chief- 
tainries into which the land was apportioned. They 
yielded a nominal submission to the chief monarch 
of the island, whose position somewhat resembled 
that of the emperors of Germany, and who was 
elected by the three orders from a certain royal 
family. There was no law of primogeniture among 
the ancient Irish ; and consequently almost all the 
officers of the state were elective. But the choice 



CH. III.] THE ANCIENT IRISH. 23 

of the electors was restricted to the members of 
particular families. 

The Druids and Olamhs were the ministers 
of religion, the bards (Jileas they were called in 
Irish), and other learned men, whose influence was 
very powerful among a people not less superstitious 
than romantic. The Irish appear to have always 
had a natural taste for learning, which they would 
undergo many privations to gratify. And it ever 
afforded them the greatest enjoyment to listen to 
the songs of their bards, singing the praises of 
some warrior chieftain, or discoursing upon the 
glories of their country. The power of the Druids 
and Olamhs w^as intended to balance that of the 
other two orders, wdth a view to prevent the one 
from invading the privileges of the other. But this 
scheme proved in the end a failure ; partly from 
the lawlessness of the petty kings, but principally 
because the bardic order cared more for their own 
aggrandisement than for the rights of the poor. 
There was a national assembly periodically con- 
vened at Tara, at which the Druids, bards, and 
artisans, appeared by their representatives. Here 
the affairs of the nation w^ere discussed, and such 
laws were enacted as the wisdom of the times sug- 
gested. The monarch presided in the assembly, 
and the petty princes attended its meetings.^ 

Such was the constitution of Ireland at the time 

1 Charles O' Conor's Dissertations on the History of Ire- 
land, pp. 48 57. 



24 THE RELIGION OF 

of the introduction of Christianity. At first sight 
it appears liable to few objections, and more skil- 
fully devised than one would expect to find in so 
remote an island, and at such an early age. But 
it had one serious defect, which prevented it from 
becoming practically beneficial to the nation. The 
number of petty princes was by far too considerable 
for so small a country. Each chieftain ry also was 
of itself almost an independent sovereignty ; and the 
ties that bound the local princes in allegiance to the 
monarch were so slight as to be easily broken upon 
the smallest provocation. The principle of an elec- 
tive monarchy served likewise to keep the people 
in constant excitement. They split themselves into 
opposing factions and parties ; and rival chieftains 
were engaged in continual warfare with one an- 
other. Internal commotion was the evil of the 
country, against which the infant Church had to 
contend ; a formidable evil at all times, and doubly 
so in a rude and uncultivated nation. Most un- 
equal, indeed, was such a contest ; the defence of 
the Church was in patience and in prayer. At one 
moment it would be caressed^ while the next it was 
plundered. One chieftain would dedicate his lands 
to the service of religion, while another would lay 
them waste with the sword. It is true that the 
Church in other countries was often exposed to 
the like dangers ; but then the Christians of Ire- 
land were without the support that was available 
for their brethren elsewhere. The power of the 



CH. III.] THE ANCIENT IRISH. 25 

emperors on the continent, for instance, was suf- 
ficient to control and overawe the turbulence of 
the petty barons ; and many struggling Churches 
received protection from the moral influence of 
Rome, long before she insisted on any exercise of 
undue power. This was not the case in Ireland, 
with which Rome had no connexion, and where 
the power of the monarch was all but nominal. 
In the midst of these disadvantages, however, the 
Church continued to gain ground, and to draw 
such numbers within its salutary influence, that 
Ireland was not inaptly termed " the island of 
saints." Owing chiefly to political circumstances, 
its parochial organisation was neither so extensive 
or efiective as its monastic; the strictness of a 
monastery seemed in that age to possess attractions 
not to be resisted. Yet, in the midst of their severe 
lives, the monks were instrumental in promoting 
the civilisation of the Irish. Fixing their habita- 
tions in the deserts, which they cultivated with 
their own hands, they rendered them in the course 
of time the most delightful spots in the kingdom. 
Cities sprang up ai^ound their cells and churches ; 
and it is to them w^e owe so useful an institution 
in Ireland as bringing great numbers together in 
one civil community ; for hitherto it had been the 
custom of the Irish to live in tents or huts, thinly 
scattered over the pastoral and mountain districts.^ 

1 See Charles O'Conor's Dissertations, &c., p. 203. 



26 BBNIGNTJS SUCCEEDS PATRICK. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BENIGNUS SUCCEEDS PATRICK — EARLY MONASTIC FOUNDA- 
TIONS — ST. BRIDGIT CHURCH OP KILDARE — SCHOOL OF 

CLONARD — ST. SINAN — MONASTERY OF BANGOR CELI- 
BACY OF THE CLERGY IRISH BISHOPRICS. 

Benen, or Benignus, succeeded to the see of Ar- 
magh upon the death of Patrick, although, in the 
opinion of some writers, the government of the 
Church was consigned to him during the lifetime 
of that prelate. He was converted in early youth 
to the Christian faith, and was St. Patrick's most 
constant companion through the entire course of 
his mission. There are several poems regulating 
the tributes and privileges of the monarchs and 
provincial kings of Ireland still extant in the Irish 
language.^ These have been ascribed to Benignus, 
and are some proof that the church had so far 
advanced in his time, as to be permitted to take 
an interest in the civil affairs of the country. Be- 
nignus was succeeded by larlath, and he again by 
Cormac ; upon whose death the government of the 
Church devolved upon Duach or Dubtach. 

During the incumbency of these prelates, the 

^ They are in the Boo^ of Lecan^ a ms. in the possession 
of the Royal Irish Academy. 



CH. IV.] EARLY MONASTIC FOUNCATIONS. 27 

number of schools and monastic foundations was 
considerably increased. St. Patrick had already 
established a school at Armagh, which eventually 
became so distinguished, that most of the clergy 
received their education in it.^ Many of his im- 
mediate disciples embraced the monastic life, and 
gathered round them others that were similarly dis- 
posed. A portion of their time was devoted to the 
instruction of the young, and of all who were an- 
xious to learn the Christian doctrines. In point of 
fact, the great proportion of our monasteries in an- 
cient times, Archbishop Ussher assures us, " were 
so many colleges of learned divines, whereunto the 
people did usually resort for instruction, and from 
whence the Church was wont continually to be 
supplied with able ministers; the benefit whereof 
was not only contained within the limits of this 
island, but did extend itself to foreign countries 
likewise."^ 

Provision was also made for those religious 
women whom inclination prompted (in the language 
of that day) " to forsake all, and to follow Christ." 
Societies were formed, where such persons as were 
approved might be admitted to live in retirement 
from the world. Their food was simple, their cloth- 
ing coarse ; and the time that was not occupied in 
prayer and psalmody was devoted to the care of the 
sick, and the relief of those who were in want. The 

^ Harris and Ware's Antiquities, chap, xxxvii. 
2 Religion of the Ancient Irish, chap. vi. 



28 ST. BRIDGIT. 

members of these societies were bound to celibacy ; 
and the canons of the Church denounced the pun- 
ishment of excommunication against any who vio- 
lated this engagement. Of these establishments, the 
most distinguished was the convent of Kildare,^ 
which was erected about a.d. 480. Its founder 
was St. Bridgit, a virgin whose life was one un- 
wearied course of piety and devotion. She was 
also instrumental in procuring a bishop for the dis- 
trict surrounding her establishment, where a large 
concourse of people shortly settled, attracted, as is 
said, by the fame of her good works. Adjoining her 
convent was a church, designed principally for the 
use of the sisterhood, of which the following de- 
scription has been left us by a writer of the eighth 
or ninth century :^ — 

" As the number of the faithful of both sexes 
increased, the church extended over a wide surface 
of ground, and rose above to an imposing elevation. 
It was adorned with paintings, and contained under 
one roof three spacious oratories, separated by boarded 
screens, while one wall, at the eastern end of the 
church, ran across the whole breadth, from side- wall 
to side-wall, richly ornamented with painted figures, 

' Kill-dara, the cell of the oak ; so called because the an- 
cient church was adjacent to a large oak-tree. 

2 Cogitosus, author of the Life of St. Bridgit. He is sup- 
posed by Colgan and others to belong to the sixth century ; 
but Lanigan, with more probability, conjectures the beginning 
of the ninth. Vide Cogitosi Vita S. Bridgid. cap. xxxv. (Col- 
gan's Tr. Th. p. 523). 



CH. IV.] CHURCH OF KILDARE. 29 

and hanging tapestries. This had two portals, one 
at either extremity. Through that upon the right, 
the prelate, with his regular college, and those who 
are appointed to the holy ministrations, and to offer 
the sacred sacrifices of the Lord, are wont to ap- 
proach the sanctuary and the altar. Through the 
other portal, on the left of the aforesaid cross-wall, 
none enter but the abbess with her maidens, and 
the faithful widows, in order to enjoy the banquet 
of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Another 
wall, dividing the pavement of the church into two 
equal parts, stretches from the east end until it meets 
a transverse wall, which crosses the breadth of the 
building. This church contains many windows, and 
one ornamental door in the right side, through 
w^hich the faithful of the male sex enter; and an- 
other on the left, by which the congregation of vir- 
gins and faithful women is accustomed to come in. 
Thus, in one great church, a vast number of people, 
of different rank, and degree, and sex, and place — 
partitions being interposed between the several di- 
visions — in various order, but with one heart, make 
their prayers to the Lord God Omnipotent." 

But it was in the sixth century that the Irish 
were especially active in the erection of schools and 
monasteries, some of which sent forth afterwards 
into distant lands many zealous missionaries and 
learned men. The school of Clonard deserves our 
particular notice, because it was long a kind of 
university in the country, and many of the ancient 
D 2 



so SCHOOL OF CLONARD. 

saints received their education within its walls. This 
school^ was erected a,d. 520, and its founder's 
name was Finian, a learned native of Leinster. His 
early years were passed in Britain, in the society of 
the Welsh saints, David, Cadoc, and others. Re- 
turning at length into Ireland, he brought with him 
some religious Britons, by whose assistance he was 
enabled to establish his school at Clonard. "The 
fame of his good works," a writer of his life informs 
us, " attracted thither illustrious men from all quar- 
ters of the island, partly with a view to study the 
sacred Scriptures, and partly to gain a more perfect 
acquaintance with the discipline and doctrine of the 
Church." And we often read in the Lives of the 
Saints, that such an one came to St. Finian to learn 
the holy Scriptures ; or that another spent much 
time at Clonard, making great proficiency in differ- 
ent kinds of sacred learning. The number of persons 
who flocked to Clonard soon raised it into some im- 
portance. It became a village, or " city," and was 
afterwards made the seat of the bishopric of Meath. 
Finian died at Clonard, in a.d. 552. An old 
writer has left us the following sketch of his cha- 
racter : — " He was full of wisdom, as a scribe 
most learned to teach the law of God's command- 
ments. He was most merciful and compassionate, 

* Colgan (AA. SS. p. 405) gives a long catalogue of the 
disciples of St. Finian. He has also (p. 406) a list of the 
bishops and abbots of Clonard, and of other holy men who are 
buried there, extending to the year 11 50. 



CH. IV.] ST. SINAN. 31 

and sincerely sympathised with the infirmities of the 
sick, and the sorrows of the afflicted ; and in every 
work of mercy he was most ready with his assist- 
ance. He healed with mildness the mental and 
bodily ills of all who came to him. Towards him- 
self he exercised the strictest discipline, to leave to 
others a good example. He loved all from a pure 
heart. He abhorred all carnal and mental vices. 
His ordinary food was bread and herbs, his drink 
water; but on the festivals of the Church, he ate 
bread made of corn, and drank a cup of ale, or 
whey. When obliged to take moderate repose, he 
slept not on a soft and easy couch, but rather on the 
bare ground, with a stone for his pillow. In a word, 
he was full of compassion toward all other men, but 
of strictness and severity to himself." ^ 

About fifteen years after the establishment of 
Finian's school, a monastery was erected at Inis- 
Scattery — an island near the mouth of the Shannon 
— by an anchorite bishop named Sinan, or Senanus. 
The monastic rule of this prelate was a very severe 
one ; and he appears to have introduced a strange 
law, prohibiting the residence of any female on the 
island belonging to his monastery. An old cata- 
logue ^ divides the Irish saints into three orders : the 
first of which was distinguished from the other two, 
not only by the celebration of the one office, and 

1 Vita St. Fmian,— Colgan's AA. SS. p. 397. 

2 Ussher's Brit. Eccl. Antiq. cap. xvii. (Works, vol. vi. 
p. 477). 



32 MONASTERY OF BANGOR. 

the observance of the same Easter, but also by not 
refusing (as the saints of the two other classes did) 
the service and company of women. Sinan was 
among the first to depart from this custom of the 
chief and more holy " order," and to introduce a 
rule so much opposed to the true spirit of Chris- 
tianity. 

In the Life of this bishop it is said, that as he 
was sojourning for some time on the Isle of Inis- 
carra, near Cork, a vessel came to shore, in which 
were fifty monks, who had been attracted to Ireland 
by the desire of a stricter life, and a better know- 
ledge of Scripture, than they seemed to think at- 
tainable any where else ; and it was their wish to 
place themselves under the control of certain holy 
fathers, whom they had understood to be renowned 
both for sanctity of life and rigour of monastic dis- 
cipline. This is the first instance we meet with of 
foreign Christians settling in Ireland for the sake of 
religious advancement ; but it is far from being a 
single case. It soon became an usual custom (with 
the youth of Britain especially) to spend many of 
their early years in the retirement of the Irish mon- 
asteries, studying holy Scripture, the writings of the 
fathers, and such other branches of learning as were 
considered worthy their attention. 

But we must not pass over without notice the 
monastery of Bangor, or Benchor, in the county of 
Down, the most celebrated of all the Irish con- 
ventual establishments* It was founded in 559? by 



CH. IV.] CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. 33 

St. Comgall, a learned and holy man ; and, accord- 
ing to the testimony of St. Bernard, it was ^- a place 
in the truest sense holy, and abounding in holy men.'' 
Most of the missionaries from Ireland were trained 
in this institution, which is said to have been the pa- 
rent of numerous similar foundations, and to have 
produced many thousand monks. There is reason to 
believe, that what has been recorded concerning one 
of its offshoots was no less true of itself — that, owing 
to the multitude of its monks, the divine offices used 
to be performed without any interruption — the choirs 
succeeding one another in turn — so that their praises 
ceased not for one moment, either day or night.^ 

Among the bishops of Armagh in this century 
(the sixth), one of them, named Ailild, is particularly 
noticed as a married man. Carbre, his son, was the 
father of Finian, the first bishop and abbot of Mo- 
ville, a man highly praised for his humble and holy 
life. There are no other recorded examples of a 
married bishop in those early times in Ireland ; - al- 
though an old canon of St. Patrick makes especial 
mention of " the wife of a clerk," as if the marriage 
of the clergy were quite an ordinary custom. But 

* St. Bernard, in his Life of St. Malachy, has recorded this 
of the monastery of Luxeuil. There is the strongest reason for 
supposing it to be equally true of the monastery of Bangor. 

2 Colgan (AA. SS. p. 62) says that x\ilild was separated 
from his wife, *' ab uxoris lege solutus," before he took orders. 
If this be true (and it is only fair to receive it with hesitation) , 
there is no recorded instance of any married clergj^man being 
in Ireland before the twelfth century. 



34 IRISH BISHOPRICS. 

it is not at all surprising that few should be found 
to avail themselves of this implied permission to 
marry, when it is remembered how much the ge- 
neral feeling of the whole Church was opposed to 
the notion of a married clergy ; and that in Ire- 
land especially this principle would naturally receive 
strength, from the more than ordinary attachment 
to a monastic life prevalent in that country. Yet it 
must not be imagined that the clergy were restrained 
from marriage by any enforced vow of celibacy. 
Such a vow was obligatory upon none, except those 
who entered the conventual houses. There was no- 
thing to prevent any clergyman from contracting 
marriage, except the voice of public opinion, which 
was certainly not favourable to the custom. 

Perhaps it was owing to this general practice 
of celibacy in the clergy, that we find so many of 
the Irish bishops undertaking the care of religious 
houses in addition to their own peculiar spheres of 
duty ; it being, doubtless, agreeable to their disposi- 
tions to spend their strict and regular lives amongst 
those who were similarly bound. Of the many bi- 
shoprics that were founded about this period, a large 
proportion owed their origin to these abbot-bishops, 
who, first collecting around them a society of monks, 
afterwards undertook the spiritual government of 
the adjacent districts. This was the case with the 
monastery of Clonmacnoise, the seven churches of 
Glendaloch, and other establishments. Yet the 
boundaries of these districts, or the dioceses them- 



CH. IV.] IRISH BISHOPRICS. 35 

selves, were not very distinctly marked out. The 
circumstances of the country, and the frequently 
precarious condition of the Church, prevented any 
well-defined arrangement, until a period much later 
than that which is engaging our attention at pre- 
sent. But perhaps in this respect the Irish Church 
did not differ considerably from other communions 
in very early times. 

There prevailed, however, in Ireland a custom 
that in evil times was productive of some injury to 
religion. If a man were remarkable for the sanctity 
of his life, the extent of his learning, or for any 
other similar circumstance, it seems to have been 
the practice with metropolitans to confer on him 
the episcopal dignity as a reward for his merits, 
without committing to him the charge of any dis- 
trict. In fact, it was not supposed that such persons 
would discharge any of the ordinary duties of the 
episcopate (except to confer orders upon some w hom 
they themselves wished to honour), for they were 
generally ascetics and anchorites, living under the 
severest rule. And so long as the dignity was be- 
stowed only upon the holiest and most distinguished 
divines, it would, perhaps, be presumptuous in us to 
find fault with the custom ; but when disorder came 
into the Church, when the love of many began to 
wax cold, it will be seen, in a subsequent part of 
this history, of what mischief and confusion it was 
the occasion. 



36 LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE — CHARACTER OF HIS 
SUCCESSORS — ADAMNAN. 

One of the most distinguished saints of the ancient 
Church in Ireland was Columb-cille, or Columba of 
the Churches, the apostle, as he has been called, of 
the northern districts of Scotland. He flourished 
in the sixth century; and it may be interesting to 
record somewhat particularly the principal circum- 
stances of his eventful life. 

St. Columba was born at Gartan, in the county 
of Donegal, about the year of our Lord 522. His 
baptismal name was Crimthan ; but in consequence 
of the remarkable mildness of his disposition and 
the gentleness of his manners, he has ever been sur- 
named Columba, or the Dove. Like other religious 
youths of his age, it was natural that he should early 
seek admission into one of the monastic colleges; 
and accordingly we find him first studying in the 
monastery of Moville, over which an abbot named 
Finian then presided. He continued here until his 
admission to deacon's orders, when he placed him- 
self under the care of Germanus, or Gorman, who 
was at that period considered a distinguished in- 
structor of the young ; and before he completed his 



CII. v.] LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 37 

studies, he spent some time at the school of Clonard, 
whose celebrity has been noticed already. The life 
he passed in these schools was a very strict one. 
Emulous of evangelic perfection, and inflamed with 
the love of Christ, he, as well as the other religious 
youths, used to pass their days in voluntary poverty, 
in vigils, fastings, and heavenly contemplation. The 
time that was not occupied in acts of piety or in 
study was employed in labouring with their hands 
for their daily food. 

St. Columba commenced his public career by 
the foundation of the abbey of Derry, in the year 
5^6. This was only the first of a great number 
of monastic houses and churches which owed their 
erection to his instrumentality. Indeed, so numerous 
are they said to have been, that from this circum- 
stance he received the addition of "cille" to his 
name, and is now usually known as Columb-cille, or 
Columb of the Churches. 

It was about the year 551 when Columba was 
admitted to the priesthood ; and it requires to be 
noticed that he never rose to the episcopal degree, 
although few, perhaps, were better qualified for this 
sacred office. This circumstance, apparently so strange, 
is thus accounted for in an old legend : — Columba 
(says the writer), while still only a deacon, was sent 
to a certain Bishop Etchen to be raised to the epis- 
copal order. Etchen would appear to have been one 
of those anchorite bishops about whom something 

E 



38 LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 

was said in the last chapter.^ He was ploughing in 
the field when Columba arrived at his cell ; and as 
soon as he heard the name of his visitor, the bishop 
left his simple occupation to bid him welcome. Nor, 
when informed of the object of his visit, did Etchen 
hesitate for a moment compliance with his request. 
He immediately proceeded to the solemn ceremony 
of the ordination ; but (continues the legend), owing 
to some oversight, he fixed on the wrong office, and 
instead of consecrating him a bishop, only ordained 
him a priest. On discovering his mistake, Etchen of- 
fered to go on regularly ; but Columba declined, and 
attributing the occurrence to some providential inter- 
ference, expressed his resolution to remain in the 
order of the priesthood during the rest of his life.^ 

Whatever difficulties may attend the reception 
of this story, there is reason to believe it true in all 
important particulars ; and it tends to prove the ex- 
istence in Ireland of the evil custom censured in the 
Nicene council, of one bishop consecrating another 
without the assistance of coadjutors. It also leads 
us to conjecture, that deacons in the Irish Church 
were occasionally advanced to the highest degree 
without being required to be ordained priests — a 
practice not at all opposed to the decisions of the 

^ Etchen is said to have been bishop of the place now 
called Clonfad, in Westmeath. 

2 O'DonneU, Vita S. Columc. 1. i. cap. 47. Colgan's Tr. 
Th. p. 397. 



CH. V.J LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 39 

Catholic Church, and which was followed elsewhere 
in the case of several remarkable prelates.^ 

Some time after his ordination, St. Columba set 
forth, with twelve companions, on his eventful ex- 
pedition to the highlands of Scotland. He arrived 
in that country in the year 563, and fixed his abode 
on the small island of lona, the grant of which he 
had received from Conall, king of the Dal-aradian 
Scots.- Here he erected a monastery, and com- 
menced his labours for the conversion of the Picts. 
These were attended with so much success, that his 
fame spread through every part of Britain ; and the 
monastery of lona became in time the chief seat of 
learning and piety in the Western Isles. But after 
some years of anxious exertion, his attention was 
diverted from the care of his converts to the social 
troubles of Ireland. There was a dispute between 
Aid, the king of Ireland, and his kinsman Aidan, 
king of the Albanian Scots, respecting the right of 
possession to the territory of Dal-aradia. Both sove- 
reigns laid a claim to it : the Scottish prince assert- 
ing that the land in dispute belonged to him by right 
of hereditary succession ; while the Irish monarch 

* Bingham gives several instances of deacons being ordained 
bishops in this manner — e.g. St. Athanasius of Alexandria, 
Vigilius of Rome, 8zc. St. Ambrose and St. Cyprian were 
ordained bishops from being mere la3rmen. (Antiq. book ii. 
ch. X. sects. 5 and 7.) 

^ The Dal-aradian Scots were the Scots (or Irish) who had 
migrated from the territory of Dal-aradia^ in the north of Ire- 
land, and settled in the modern Scotland. 



40 LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 

was unwilling that a foreign prince should enjoy any 
sovereignty in his dominions. And, in addition to 
the dangers that thus threatened the integrity of the 
kingdom, the overgrown power of the fileas, or bards, 
greatly obstructed its internal tranquillity. Their 
rude rhymes were very acceptable to the Irish popu- 
lace, who would never grow wearied of listening to 
their panegyrics on the national valour, or the heroic 
deeds of some favourite warrior. The bards were not 
slow in marking the effect of their songs upon the 
people — how the popular attention was riveted, and 
their enthusiasm excited ; but they made use of their 
acquired influence for the very worst ends. Intent 
only upon enriching themselves, they did not hesi- 
tate to defame those who would not purchase their 
good-will with costly presents; and, protected as 
they were by the favour of the people, they seemed 
conscious that no harm could happen to their per- 
sons. They therefore increased in licentious bold- 
ness, and by the virulence of their satirical verses 
wounded many of the influential chieftains of the 
day, who bore with the evil until it appeared no 
longer endurable. 

To find some remedy for this abuse, as well as to 
settle the affair about the Dal-aradian territory, an 
assembly of the states of the kingdom was convened 
at Drum-ceat, in the county of Derry, in the year 
590. The council consisted of the Irish monarch, 
the nobles, and the clergy, who, since the conversion 
of the island to the Christian faith, had in a great 



CH. v.] LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 41 

measure succeeded to the political privileges of the 
pagan Druids. Columba came over from lona to at- 
tend the council, and by his mediation succeeded in 
preserving the order of the bards from the sentence 
of abolition contemplated by the king and nobles. 
He conceived that no good end could result from the 
extinction of an order so intimately connected with 
the manners of the people ; and therefore proposed 
thatj instead of extirpating them altogether, the as- 
sembly should be satisfied with correcting their ex- 
cesses, and enacting laws for their more effectual 
control in future. To this proposal there was at first 
some little opposition, but it w^as in the end unani- 
mously conceded to. The Dal-aradian dispute w^as 
also arranged to the satisfaction of all parties. By 
the advice of St. Columba, the whole matter was left 
to the arbitration of a holy person named Colman, 
who gave it as his decision, that the province — so 
far as the payment of tribute and similar affairs w^as 
concerned — ought to be subject to the Irish mon- 
arch ; but that the Scots, as being themselves the 
descendants of the Dal-aradians, might call upon 
them for aid and assistance in times of just necessity. 
And the readiness with which this decision w as ac- 
quiesced in, is a proof of the estimation in which the 
integrity of religious men was then held, as well as 
of the extensive power that was on more than one 
occasion conceded to them.^ 

' Vide O'Donnell, Vita S. Columc. 1. iii. cap. 1-11. Col- 
gan's Tr. Th. p. 430, &c. 

E 2 



42 LIFE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 

Upon the breaking up of the council, Columba 
proceeded to visit some of his Irish monasteries ; and 
after completing his inspection of them, returned to 
his favourite residence at lona. Here he ended his 
days on the 9th of June, in the year 597. His 
remains were buried in lona ; but at a subsequent 
period are said to have been translated to Ireland, 
and placed in the same tomb with that of Patrick 
and Bridgit, at Downpatrick. 

The countenance of Columba (says the most 
distinguished of his biographers)^ resembled that of 
an angel. In conversation he was brilliant, in work 
holy, in disposition excellent, in council distinguished. 
Although he lived on earth, yet he shewed himself 
furnished with heavenly manners. Every hour of his 
life was passed either in prayer, or reading, or writing, 
or some useful occupation. His fastings and watch- 
ings, also, were unwearied. Yet, in the midst of all 
these austerities, he ever preserved a cheerful coun- 
tenance, and was beloved by all who were brought 
into intercourse with him. 

St. Columba used to employ many of his hours at 
lona in transcribing copies of the Gospels, and other 
parts of Holy Scripture. He was engaged in copying 
out a psalter on the very day of his death, and had 
got so far as the 10th verse of the 34th Psalm — 
" They who seek, the Lord shall want no manner of 
thing that is good'' — when, foreseeing his approach - 

* Adamnan, Prsef. ad Vitam S. Columc. Colgan's Tr. Th. 
p. 337. 



CH. v.] LIFE OF ST, COLUM-CILLE. 43 

ing dissolution, he stopped and said, ''Let Baithen 
(meaning his successor) finish the rest."^ There are 
still in existence two manuscripts of the Gospels that 
are said to have been copied by him. One of these is 
a small manuscript called the ''Book of Durrow," be- 
cause it once belonged to the monastery of that place; 
the other is a much larger one, known as the "Book 
of Kells," and is, perhaps, one of the most beautiful 
manuscripts at present in preservation. Both these 
copies of the Gospels are in the library of Trinity 
College, Dublin. Whether they were really written 
by Columba, it is impossible to say ; but if they were 
not, they are at least the work of some of the monks 
of his Irish monasteries. Columba is likew ise said to 
have composed some I^atin and Irish hymns, many 
of which are still extant.^ The following is a trans- 
lation of the shortest of these Latin hymns, which 
was written soon after the foundation of his first 
monastery at Derry, and is consequently one of his 
earliest attempts : — 

*' Hear us, O God ! whom we adore, 
And bid Thy thunders cease to roar ; 
Nor let the hghtning's ghastly glare 
Affright Thy servants to despair. 

1 Adamnan, 1. iu. cap. 23. (Colgan's Tr. Th. p. 369.) 
" They are in the very ancient Irish ms. called the '' Liber 
Hymnorum," preserved in the University Library at Dublin. 
Colgan (Tr. Th. p. 473) has printed three of them. A Psalter, 
written by St. Columba — supposed to be the same which was 
the cause of the battle of Culdremne — is in the Library of the 
Royal Irish Academy. 



44 LIKE OF ST. COLUM-CILLE. 

Thee, mighty God, we humbly fear ; 
With Thee no rival durst compare : 
In loftier strains than earth can raise 
Thee angels' choirs unceasing praise : 
Thy name fills heaven's high courts above, 
And echoes tell Thy wondrous love. 

Jesu ! Thy love creation sings, 
Most upright, holy, King of kings ; 
For ever blest shalt Thou remain, 
Ruling with truth Thy wide domain. 

The Baptist who prepared Thy way, 
Ere he beheld the light of day, 
Strengthened with grace from God on high, 
Rejoic'd to know Thy day drew nigh. 

Though strength was gone, and nature fail'd, 
God's aged priest by prayer prevailed ; 
A son was given — a Prophet came, 
The great Messias to proclaim. 

The gems that shine with dazzling light 
Upon a cup of silver bright, 
Resemble, faintly though it be, 
The love, my God, I bear to Thee." 

The successors of St. Columba in the government 
of lona were for a long series of years distinguished 
for their continence, their love of God, their strict 
discipline, and diligent observance of the precepts of 
the sacred writings.^ Their monastery, likewise, sent 
forth many disinterested and successful missionaries. 
Among these St. Aidan and St. Finan hold, perhaps, 

' Bede, 1. iii. cap. 4. 



CH. v.] ADAMNAN. 45 

the first place. " They deserve," says Archbishop 
Ussher, " to be honoured by the English nation with 
as venerable a remembrance as (I do not say Wilfrid 
and Culhbert, but) Austin the monk, and his follow- 
ers. For by the ministry of Aidan was the kingdom 
of Northumberland recovered from paganism ; and 
by the means of Finan, not only the kingdom of the 
East Saxons regained, but also the large kingdom of 
Mercia converted first unto Christianity."^ 

Adamnan, abbot of lona,^ is the next who claims 
our notice. He flourished during the seventh cen- 
tur}', and is praised by Venerable Bede as a good 
and wise man, well skilled in the knowledge of Holy 
Scripture. But he is principally known to posterity 
as the writer of the "Life of Colum-cille," a work 
valuable for its topographical allusions, but scarcely 
deserving the dignity of a biography. It is rather a 
legendary narrative, in three books, of the prophecies 
that Columba is reported to have uttered — of the 
miracles ascribed to him — and the angelic visions 
with w^hich he has been favoured by tradition. It 
may appear strange that a religious and sober person, 
such as Adamnan, should have undertaken to record 
stories, many of which could scarcely be true. But 
the age in which he lived was not a sceptical one. 
It was the universal opinion that the Almighty fa- 
voured His saints and servants, by shewing forth His 

^ Ussher's Religion of the Ancient Irish, chap. x. 
2 Now called St. Eunan (representing the Irish pronuncia- 
tion of Adamnan), patron of Raphoe. 



46 ADAMNAN. 

power through their instrumentality; and no reli- 
gious person ever thought of calling in question the 
truth of a miracle. No doubt, it had been better for 
the future interests of the Church had this been done 
occasionally — had our ancestors in the faith required 
better evidence in support of the truth, in order to 
prevent (if possible) falsehood from passing as its 
counterfeit. But a sufficient excuse for Adamnan is 
the fact, that all miraculous stories were at that time 
received with little or no hesitation. This is enough 
to exonerate him from the charge of invention or 
imposition, which so many persons are fond of advan- 
cing against ancient writers. He recorded what he 
had heard, and what he had reason to believe was 
true ; and if affection for the founder of his order, 
combined with the child-like faith of his age, caused 
him now and then to fall into a mistake, who is so 
hard-hearted as to condemn him severely? 



CH. Vl.] CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 47 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 

During the lifetime of Adamnan, the Irish Church 
was greatly harassed by internal contests respecting the 
proper period for celebrating the paschal solemnity. 
It had long been the practice in Ireland to observe 
the festival of Easter upon the 14th day of the first 
vernal month (if a Sunday), instead of adopting the 
more general custom of deferring its celebration, in 
all cases, until the Sunday following the 14th. The 
origin of this difference may be traced back to the 
times of St. Patrick, who brought along with him 
the astronomical calculations and cycles that were 
made use of by the Gallican Church to determine 
their moveable feasts. These corresponded in almost 
every particular w^ith the calculations then followed 
at Rome, which were exceedingly defective and in- 
accurate. But the Roman Church, soon perceiving 
this, adopted a system less liable to mistakes.^ Most 
other Churches received the improvements of Rome 
without hesitation. In Britain and Ireland alone the 

^ Vide Ussher's Brit. Eccl. Antiq. cap. xvii. (Works, vol. vi. 
p. 492-510.) Prideaux's Connexion, vol, ii. p. 248 et seq. 



48 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 



J 



old calculations were adhered to. At first it was 
in ignorance that any changes had been made else- 
where. No official intercourse being kept up between 
Rome and these Christians of the West, the errors of 
their system were not pointed out to them until it 
was almost too late. For after the observance of 
several generations, they began to look upon their 
calculations and cycles as a sacred legacy from their 
Christian forefathers, which it would be w^orse than 
ungrateful in them to alter or give up. 

As soon as it became known at Rome, that the 
Irish Church was irregular in its observance of Easter, 
the bishops of that see endeavoured to enforce upon 
it the necessity of conforming to the practice of the 
rest of the Church. In the year 629, Honorius I. 
wrote to the Irish prelates, exhorting them to correct 
what was erroneous in their system, and not to be 
led astray by a notion of their superiority to other 
Churches.^ For Laurence, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, had already directed their attention to the 
danger threatened by their irregularity to the unity 
of the Church ; but his admonitions were unsuccess- 
ful, and he himself was treated by some Irish bishops 
with great disrespect. More attention, however, was 
paid to the remonstrance of the Pope. Upon the 
receipt of his letter, a provincial synod was held at a 
place called Campo-Lene, now^ Old Leighlin.^ It was 

* Bede, 1. ii. cap. 19. 

2 Ussher's Brit. Eccl. Antiq. cap xvii. (Works, vol. vi. 
p. 503.) 



CH. VI.] CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 49 

numerously attended by the bishops and clergy of 
the south of Ireland, and was presided over by the 
Bishop of Emly, whose see at that time ranked 
next to Armagh. Both sides had their respective 
advocates at the synod. Fintan, abbot of Tagh- 
mon, defended the usage of the Irish ; and Laserian, 
abbot of Leighlin, the more Catholic system. There 
was a great deal of argument and discussion ; and 
at last it was resolved to send certain messengers 
to Rome, who were to observe at what time the 
Christians collected there from all parts of the world 
celebrated the feast of Easter, and to bring back a 
report to the synod. These deputies accordingly set 
out on their mission, and returning in the third year 
after, gave in their report in these words : " Through- 
out the whole world it is the Roman Easter that is 
observed." They saw Greek and Hebrew, Scythian 
and Egyptian, assemble together under one roof (in 
the Church of St. Peter) to celebrate this feast at the 
same time ; and so great was the error of the Irish 
system, that it differed by an entire month from the 
received reckoning of the rest of the Church.^ 

This report was satisfactory to the Christians in 
the south. The province under the government of 
the Bishop of Emly, adopted, in consequence, the 
Roman method ; but the northern prelates, together 
with the monks of lona and the Irish clergy in Bri- 
tain, still adhered to their ancient calculations. Seve- 
ral attempts were made to bring them over to a right 

^ Cummian, Epist. ad Segienum, — Ussher, Sylloge, Ep. xi. 
F 



50 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 

view of the case, but without success. Cummian, a 
learned monk of Durrow, endeavoured to point out 
to them the error of their system, and the danger 
they were in of falling into schism ; but the strong 
popular party in favour of the Irish system were too 
much blinded by prejudice to listen to his reasoning. 
In the heat of controversy, the whole matter was 
much magnified. The Irish party thought they were 
defending a point of the greatest importance to sound 
faith and doctrine ; and regarded all who favoured 
the European system as heretics and schismatics. 
The monks of lona thought with their brethren in 
Ireland ; and were so deeply wedded to their old 
customs, as to turn a deaf ear even to the entreaties 
of their abbot, Adamnan, who was one of those that 
endeavoured to convince them of their error. At 
length, in the year 664<i the Anglo-Saxon synod at 
Whitby decided in favour of the Roman Easter ; 
and its decision, in effect, compelled those who would 
not submit, to return to lona or Ireland. Here they 
persevered in following " the tradition of their fa- 
thers," as they used to call their custom, until the 
year 716 ; when, through the instrumentality of Eg- 
berct, a British monk, this long and sore division 
was finally healed.^ There can be no doubt that 
the Irish Christians placed themselves in a very false 

* At least so far as England was concerned, but it continued 
in Wales for some time longer. (See XJssher's Religion of the 
Ancient Irish, chap, x.) The tonsure -question was always dis- 
cussed along with this subject. (Ussher, Brit. Eccl. Antiq. 
cap. xvii., — Works, vol. vi. p. 487.) 



CH. VI.] CONTROVERSY RESPECTIXG EASTER. 51 

position by opposing the judgment of Rome and 
other Churches ; and had not the mercy of God in- 
terposed, their obstinacy might have produced the 
most fatal consequences to religion. But one must 
not judge them too harshly. This was almost the 
only point on which affection for their Christian 
fathers carried them into error. In all other respects, 
the monks and clergy of Ireland continued as yet 
faithful servants of God. Those who lived in lona 
and in Britain — such as Colman, bishop of Lindis- 
farne^ — were especially remarkable for the temper- 
ance and innocency of their lives. The Venerable 
Bede tells us^ that their whole solicitude was to serve 
God, and not the world ; their whole care to attend 
to their heart, and not their appetites. And so great 
was the respect paid to them in consequence, that 
every monk and clergyman was held in the highest 
estimation. Their arrival in any village was received 
with delight. The people would run up to them, 
and with bowed head rejoice to receive the sign of 
the cross from their hands, or a blessing from their 
lips. They would diligently, also, listen to their ex- 
hortations ; and, on Sundays, repair to the church or 

^ Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who took so active a part 
in the sjnod of \Aliitby, returned to Ireland, after the decision 
of King Oswi was given against him. Several of the Anglo- 
Saxons came along with him. He founded two monasteries ; 
one at Inisbofinde for the Irish monks, and another at Mayo 
for the Saxons. Hence Mayo is called to this day, amongst 
the Irish, " Mayo of the Saxons." 

2 Hist. Eccl. 1. iii cap. 26. 



52 CONTROVERSY RESPECTING EASTER. 

monasteries to hear the word of God. Nor had the 
priests and clergy any other objects in visiting the 
villages than the care of souls. 

^* How beautifal your presence ! how benign, 
Servants of God ! who not a thought will share 
With the vain world ; who outwardly as bare 
As winter-trees, yield no fallacious sign 
That the firm soul is clothed with fruit divine ! 
Such priest, when service worthy of his care. 
Has called him forth to breathe the common air. 
Might seem a saintly image from its shrine 
Descended. Happy are the eyes that meet 
The apparition ; evil thoughts are stayed 
At his approach, and low-bowed necks entreat 
A benediction from his voice or hand ; 
Whence grace, through which the heart can understand, 
And vows that bind the will, in silence made."' 

^ Wordsworth. 



i 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBANUS. 53 



CHAPTER VII. 

ST. COLUMBANUS THE CULDEES AENGUS THE HAGIO- 

LOGTST- 

Ireland sent forth monks and clergy into many other 
countries besides Britain. Among these a high rank 
is due to the holy Columbanus, who, besides his 
monastic virtues, is distinguished as a writer inti- 
mately connected with the theology of our Church. 
Columbanus was the son of respectable parents in 
the province of Leinster, and was born about the 
year 539. By the advice of a woman who had for 
fifteen years been living an eremite life, he left his 
native district, and placed himself under the care 
of a venerable person named Senile, whose singular 
piety and acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures had 
procured for him a high reputation. While under 
the care of this instructor, Columbanus is said to 
have composed an exposition of the Psalms, together 
with some other tracts. He quitted Senile, to enter 
the monastery of Bangor in the county of Down, 
where he became a monk, and remained for some 
years, under the government of its abbot, Comgall ; 
but conceiving a desire to settle in a foreign land, 
he obtained a reluctant permission from the abbot ; 
and, with twelve companions, set out on his way to 
F 2 



54 ST. COLUMBANUS. 

France. Arriving here, after a short delay he fixed 
his abode in the forest of the Vosges, where he con- 
verted the ruins of an old fort called Anegray into 
a shelter sufficient for himself and his companions. 
But this place was not able to contain the numbers 
who soon sought to join his society ; and accord- 
ingly he was obliged to provide for their accommo- 
dation by the erection of two other monastic houses 
within the forest ; one at Luxeuil, the other at Fon- 
taine* Columbanus presided in person over Luxeuil, 
and the other two were governed by his deputies or 
priors. For twenty years he continued, with his 
monks, to serve God in these monasteries. But his 
retirement was disturbed by some ecclesiastical dis- 
putes, into which he was unfortunately drawn ; and 
he thus failed to conciliate the good-will and appro- 
bation of the Galilean bishops. Columbanus was one 
of those who were very strict in observing the Irish 
method of computing the paschal term. Although 
sojourning in a country where a different system was 
adopted, he could not be persuaded to lay aside the 
custom of his own Church ; and this naturally gave 
offence to the clergy of Gaul, who looked upon his 
conduct as tending to a breach of unity. Accordingly, 
a synod was convened to consider what course should 
be adopted with respect to him. Columbanus was 
summoned to attend ; but, instead of doing so, he 
addressed a letter to the Galilean bishops, in which 
the Irish paschal system was defended with much 
ingenuity. He thanks God that they had met upon 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBANUS. 55 

his account, and expresses a wish that, in accordance 
with the canons, their synods were held more fre- 
quently. He implores them to investigate which 
tradition more nearly approached the truth ; theirs, 
or that which he followed—" the tradition of their 
brethren in the west." He tells them that he had 
already passed twelve years in the midst of their 
forest, near the remains of seventeen of his brother- 
monks, who there rested in peace. " Let Gaul," he 
adds, " receive us all, whom the kingdom of heaven 
shall receive, if we be found worthy. For we have 
one kingdom promised, and one hope of our calling 
in Christ, with whom we shall reign together, if only 
we first suffer with Him, that with Him we may be 
glorified." And, in conclusion, he exhorts them to 
pray for him, " since we are all members of the one 
body, whether Gauls, or Britons, or Irish." 

It is not known what decision the Galilean synod 
came to respecting Columbanus. It is probable, 
however, that the estimation in which his virtues 
and piety were held, prevailed upon the assembled 
prelates to overlook his irregularity for the present, 
in the hope that he himself would in time correct it. 

Columbanus addressed another epistle, partly 
upon this Easter-question, to St. Gregory the Great, 
Bishop of Rome. There is one passage in it espe- 
cially deserving our attention. But, fi^rst, it must 
be premised that he is alluding in it to two re- 
formers of the paschal cycles — Anatolius, bishop 
of Laodicea, and Victorius, presbyter of Limoges. 



56 ST. COLUMBANUS. 

The former, in the year 276, substituted a new cycle 
of nineteen years for the old and most faulty Jewish 
cycle of eighty-four years. This improvement, al- 
though only a slight one, was generally received in 
the eastern, and for some time in the western Church, 
until the Roman see, through jealousy of the East, 
returned to the defective calculation of eighty-four 
years. But Hilarius, bishop of Rome, at last di- 
rected Victorius of Limoges to undertake the re- 
formation of their paschal term ; who accordingly 
re-introduced into the western Church the cycle of 
nineteen years, with some additional improvements 
of his own. Columbanus rejected the calculations of 
Victorius, as unauthorised and novel, notwithstand- 
ing the approval of the Roman see : and he appears 
to have believed that the paschal system of the Irish 
Church agreed with that recommended by Anatolius, 
the Eastern bishop. In this, however, he made a 
mistake ; for the Irish Church followed the old 
Jewish cycle of eighty-four years, reformed, in some 
slight degree, by Sulpicius Severus, a Galilean pres- 
byter. Columbanus was also of opinion that St. 
Jerome advocated the Anatolian system. Speaking, 
then, of these two reformers of the paschal cycles, 
he thus addresses the pope : — " Therefore, either ex- 
cuse or condemn your Victorius. Knowing this, that 
should you applaud him, the matter of the faith will 
lie between you and Jerome, who, without doubt, 
praised Anatolius, instead of this writer ; so that who- 
ever follows the one, cannot receive the other. Let 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBANUS. 57 

thy vigilance, therefore, take care, that in proving 
the faith of the two aforesaid authors, the one con- 
trary to the other, in the sentence to be given, there 
be no discordance between you and Jerome, lest we 
be in perplexity on every side whether to agree with 
you or wdth him. In this, spare the weak, lest you 
manifest the scandal of disagreement ; for I plainly 
acknowledge to you, that any one coming in oppo- 
sition to the authority of Saint Jerome with the 
Churches of the West will be considered a heretic, 
or one to be rejected ; for they accommodate their 
faith in divine Scriptures to his teaching in every 
thing without hesitation." 

Two inferences may be drawn from this passage, 
tending to throw light upon the religious system of 
the ancient Irish. First of all, the authority of St. 
Jerome was so highly esteemed amongst them, that 
they professed an unhesitating obedience to his teach- 
ing ; and, secondly (according to the statement of 
Columbanus), in doubtful cases, they would prefer 
the decision of St. Jerome to that of the Roman 
bishop for the time being, if the one were at vari- 
ance with the other. 

In addition to the uneasiness caused him by 
this paschal controversy, Columbanus suffered much 
persecution from Theuderic, the wicked king of 
Burgundy, who, after subjecting him to many petty 
annoyances, drove him at last from the monastery of 
Luxeuil. Having wandered about for a little, and 
spent some time at Milan, Columbanus erected a 



58 



ST. COLUMBANUS. 



monastery at Bobbio, in the Apennines, where he 
found a ruined church, dedicated in memory of St. 
Peter. Here he passed the short remainder of his 
life. He died on the 21st of November, a.d. 615. 
The monasteries of Bobbio and Luxeuil became after- 
wards most distinguished, and trained up within their 
walls many illustrious servants of the Church.^ 

Columbanus appears from his works to have been 
conversant with the heathen classics, as well as the 
writings of the fathers. He was an assiduous author. 
In addition to the commentary on the Psalms, and 
the two epistles already alluded to, he wrote a trea- 
tise against the Arians of Milan, some short sermons 
or " instructions," a few poems, a monastic rule and 
penitential, and three epistles. The most important 
of all his letters is addressed to Pope Boniface IV. It 
was written at the request of Agilulf, king of the 
Lombards, who, although an Arian, urged Columba- 
nus (to his great astonishment, as he informs us), to 
use his exertions towards quieting the religious disor- 
ders of his dominions. These disorders originated 
partly in Arian disputes, and partly in the controversy 
known in Church -history as that of "The Three Chap- 

^ The life of Columbanus has been written by Jonas, a 
monk in the monastery of Bobbio. He lived in the seventh 
century, and has always been considered a writer of credit. 
His Vita S. Columbani has been often published. (Vide Fle- 
ming, Collectanea Sacra ; Messingham, Florilegium ; Mabillon, 
AA.SS. Ord. Ben.) The epistles and other works of Colum- 
banus are to be found in Fleming's Coll. Sacra y and in the 
Lyons edition of the Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xii. 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBANUS. 59 

ters." Columbanus complied with the request of the 
Lombard king; and the object of his epistle to Boni- 
face was, to urge him on to call a synod, which might 
calm the troubled waters of the Church, and exone- 
rate the Roman see from a charge brought against 
it of abetting heretics. In the course of his epistle 
he takes occasion to state very clearly his view of 
the supremacy of the papal chair, which it may be 
well to give here in his own words : — 

" From that time (i, e, of St. Peter's and St. 
Paul's visit to Rome) ye are great and illustrious, 
and Rome herself more noble and renowned ; and if 
one may so speak, on account of the two apostles of 
Christ (for thei/ are the heavens spoken of by the 
Holy Ghost, as telling the glory of God, of whom 
it is inferred that their sound has gone out into all 
lands, and their words into the ends of the world), 
you are almost celestial, and Rome the head of the 
Churches of the world, saving the singular preroga- 
tive of the place of the Lord's resurrection."' And as 
your honour is great, in proportion to the dignity of 
the apostolic chair, great also is the care necessarily 
imposed on you, not to lose your dignity by any per- 
verse obstinacy. For so long only shall power re- 
main T^'ith you as right reason shall remain ; for he 

^ Dr. Lanigan (vol. ii. p. 290) quotes a part of the passage 
here given, omitting the clause, *' saving the singular preroga- 
tive of the Church of Jerusalem." This is almost the only in- 
stance of a garbled quotation I have met with in that writer's 
learned history. 



60 ST. COLUMBANUS. 

is the unerring porter of the kingdom of heaven, 
who, by true knowledge, opens to the worthy, and 
shuts against the unworthy. If he act otherwise, he 
shall be able neither to open nor to shut. Since then, 
these things be true, and are received as such, with- 
out any gainsaying, by all wise persons (though 
it is known to all, and no one is ignorant in what 
sense our Saviour gave the keys to St. Peter), and 
you, perchance, by this I know not what arrogance, 
claim to yourselves above the rest, greater autho- 
rity and power in divine matters, you should know 
that your power shall be less with the Lord, if 
you even admit the thought of such a thing ; for 
unity of faith in the whole world has made unity of 
power and prerogative ; so that liberty should be 
given by all and every where to the truth, and ad- 
mission be equally denied by all to error. Because 
a right confession of the faith gave this privilege to 
the holy keeper of the keys, the common father of 
all, it is also lawful for your juniors to stir you up 
for the zeal of the faith, for the love of peace, for 
the unity of our common mother the Church, which, 
doubtless, like Rebecca, feels her maternal bowels 
rent and torn, grieves for the intestine strife of her 
own children, and deeply bewails these divisions 
within her own bowels." 

But in addition to the testimony it bears upon so 
important a subject, this letter is valuable on other 
grounds. It speaks in the strongest terms of the 
entire orthodoxy of the ancient Irish Church ; there- 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBAXUS. 61 

by disproving, by the testimony of one well qua- 
lified, by early education and sound learning, to 
form an opinion, charges that of late have insinuated 
its unsoundness in the faith. ^ '• All of us natives of 
Ireland," writes Columbanus, " whose dwelling is 
upon the confines of the earth, receiving no doctrine 
beyond what the evangelists and apostles taught, are 
the followers of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of all the 
disciples who, by Divine inspiration, wrote the sacred 
canon of Scripture. Amongst us there has been no 
heretic, no Jew, no schismatic ; but we adhere with 
unshaken firmness to the Catholic faith, as we re- 
ceived it at the first from you, to wit, the successors 
of these blessed apostles." And towards the close of 
the letter, Columbanus records his own belief in our 
blessed Lord's divine nature, which is equally re- 
moved from the error of the Eutychians (who con- 
fused our Lord's divine and human nature into one), 

* Mr. INIoore, in his recent History of Ireland, most 
strangely says: — *' It would appear that, after the death of 
that great Pope (St. Gregory), the Lombard court had again 
fallen into schism ; for it was confessedly at the strong instance 
of Agilulph himself that Columbanus addressed his expostu- 
latory letter to Pope Boniface ; and the views which he takes 
in that remarkable document are, for the most part, those 
of the schismatics, or the defenders of the three chapters. ^^ 
(Vol. i. p. 264.) Mr. Moore here insinuates that Colum- 
banus was either a Nestorian or semi-Nestorian ; whereas 
had he read the epistle he professed to give an account of, he 
would have seen that the creed of the writer was perfectly 
orthodox. 

G 



62 ST. COLUMBANUS. 

and that of the Nestorians (who held two separate 
persons in Christ). The words of his creed are as 
follows : — " If, as I have hearfl, some do not believe 
two natures in Christ, they are to be accounted he- 
retics rather than Christians : for Christ, our Saviour, 
is very God, eternal, without time ; and very man, 
sinless, of time; who, according to His divine nature, 
is co-eternal with the Father, and, according to His 
humanity, is younger than his mother ; who, born in 
the flesh, was not, however, absent from heaven ; 
abiding in the Trinity, lived in the world. And 
therefore if it be written in the fifth synod, as some 
one told me,^ that he who adores two natures has 
his prayers divided, the assertor of this heresy is 
divided from the saints, and separated from God. 
For we, in respect to the unity of person in which 
it hath pleased the fulness of the Godhead to dwell 
bodily, believe one Christ, God and man, because 
He who descended is the same who ascended above 
all heavens to fulfil all things." 

The monastic rule of St. Columbanus is described 
by Archishop Ussher as one of the two most cele- 

^ The canon of the fifth synod does not anathematise those 
who worship two natures in Christ, but those who introduce 
into their worship two separate adorations — one to God the 
Word, and one to the man Christ, as if the human and divine 
natures were not united in one person. (Canon ix. Cone. 
Const.) So that the informant of Columbanus gave him an 
inaccurate report of the decree of the synod. The canon was 
especially directed against the Nestorians. 



CH. VII.] ST. COLUMBANUS. 63 

brated rules of ascetic life in the middle agesJ It 
is particularly \yorthy of our notice, as in all proba- 
bility it was the same as the rule observed in the 
Irisii monastery of Bangor at an earlier period. Co- 
lumbanus was remarkable for his attachment to the 
Irish customs. Their defective paschal calculations 
he both follow^ed and defended. The Irish liturgy 
he likewise introduced at Luxeuil. All w^hich in- 
creases the probability that his monastic rule was 
also derived from Ireland. " It is short, and prin- 
cipally engaged in recommending the monastic vir- 
tues of obedience, poverty, disinterestedness, humi- 
lity, chastity, mortification, silence, and discretion." 
According to its regulation, no food was to be taken 
before noon. Then it was to be of the simplest 
kind ; such as herbs, vegetables, meal and water, 
with a little bread. It was also to be apportioned to 
the labour undergone ; and each day the monks were 
to fast, pray, work, and read. The prescribed course 
of psalmody was so severe, that at certain seasons 
the entire Psalter was appointed to be sung through 
in two successive nights. A very strict penitential 
code is added to the monastic rule, by which every 
neglect of duty is directed to be punished with much 
severity. It condemns the offenders sometimes to 
corporal chastisement, sometimes to silence, and, 
again, to the recital of a given number of psalms. 
Upon entering the monastery, or leaving it, the 

^ The other was the Benedictine. (Usshers Brit. EccL 
Antiq. cap. xvii.) 



64 ST. COLUMBANUS. 

monks were required to ask the abbot's benediction. 
If they went beyond the bounds of the monastery 
without the permission of their superior ; if they 
neglected to pray before and after their daily task ; 
if, during the hours of prayer, they were inattentive 
and negligent; if they omitted to repeat the "Amen;" 
or if they spoke to a secular person without being 
ordered to do so — for these and such delinquencies 
they were liable to be strictly punished.' 

The rule of Columbanus soon became united to 
that of St. Benedict ; and they both continue to be 
observed, with various and explanatory modifications, 
in the greater part of the western Church to the pre- 
sent day. But it is remarkable that the Benedic- 
tine order, that spread so quickly over the face of 
Europe, did not penetrate into Ireland until intro- 
duced by the English. Up to the twelfth century, 
the Irish had their peculiar religious orders, of greater 
antiquity than that of St. Benedict. Thus there was 
the order of Columbian monks, comprising all who 

* In Mabillon's account of this Penitential he has the fol- 
lowing sentence : — " It is moreover prescribed, that whoever 
is about to receive the Sacrifice (to wit, the Holy Communion) 
should thrice humble himself; and that novices, as being un- 
learned and inexperienced, should not approach to the cup ; 
which is an argument that communion under one kind was in 
use at that time." — Annates Bened. lib. viii. p. 213. I have 
not been able to discover any rule of the kind in the copy 
of the Penitential published in Fleming's Collectanea Sacra. 
There is nothing whatever said in that copy about receiving 
the Holy Communion. 



CH. VII.] THE CULDEES. Go 

were connected with any monastic house of which 
Colum-cille was the reputed founder. Again, there 
was the order of those who observed the rule of 
St. Kiaran of Clonmacnoise, or St. Carthag of Lis- 
more, or St. Coemgen of Glendaloch, and Comgall of 
Bangor. 

But a new order originated in the eighth cen- 
tury, called Celi-de, or Culdee — an Irish name, sig- 
nifying the Spouse of God. Its history is at present 
very obscure. The order would appear to have ori- 
ginated at the monastery of Tallaght, near Dublin. 
Its first abbot was Moelruan, who died in the year 
787. Like many of his brethren, he w^as a bishop as 
well as abbot ; and w^as one of the compilers of the 
calendar known as " The Martyrology of Tallaght." 
There are two rules of this order still preserved in 
manuscript; one of which is a prose version of a me- 
trical rule, written by Moelruan himself. The Cul- 
dees are called in it " Moelruan's people ;" and 
there are many other passages scattered through an- 
cient Irish manuscripts, in which the name of this 
abbot-bishop occurs in connexion with the Culdees.' 
From these rules it w^ould appear that the order 
consisted of two divisions — the clerks and lay bro- 
thers. Their course of psalmody was even more 
severe than that followed at Luxeuil. Two of the 

* I am indebted for most of my information respecting the 
Culdees, as well as for translations of the two rules preserved 
amongst the Irish mss., to the kindness of my friend Mr. 
Curry. 

2* 



66 THE CULDEES. 

monks always remained in the oratory until the time 
of matins, while the remainder were taking their 
rest ; and by these the whole hundred and fifty 
Psalms were repeated. They were succeeded in the 
oratory by two others, who performed the same ser- 
vice from the hour of matins until morning. They 
then retired to rest until the third hour, when all 
the order joined together in celebrating the office 
proper to that part of the day. 

It was also a part of their rule, for one of the 
order to be reading the gospels, the rules, and mira- 
cles of the saints aloud, while the rest were at dinner ; 
and each day they were questioned about what had 
been read to them. A portion of their time would 
seem to have been devoted to the instruction of 
young persons attached to the order ; for one of their 
laws inflicts a penalty upon any who, in the heat of 
anger, curses or abuses his pupil. The Culdees ob- 
served a fast once a month, " upon half a meal of 
bread, and half a meal of watery whey." They were 
likewise in the habit of practising confession, as ap- 
pears from one of their rules, which says, that " to 
abstain from confession is proper for him who ob- 
serves not the penance imposed by the friend of his 
soul {i,e, his spiritual adviser); or if he should not 
have any confessor, or director, whom he deemed 
competent, at hand ; that is, a director learned in 
the rules and ways of the Scripture, and the rules of 
the saints, to whom he should confess, and to whose 
enjoined penance he should submit." In this very 



CH. VII.] AENGUS THE HAGIOLOGIST. 67 

obscure rule (which is literally rendered from the 
Irish), we have, it is believed, the earliest mention 
of the practice of private confession in the Irish 
Church. The rule notices two cases in which it was 
lawful for a Culdee to abstain from confession : one 
was, the want of a priest, or director, sufficiently 
versed in holy Scripture and ancient writings to 
give him sound council and advice ; the other, '' if 
he observe not the penance imposed by his spiritual 
adviser ;" which probably means, if he be incapa- 
citated by sickness, or some other cause, from ob- 
serving the imposed penance ; as if in their religious 
system there w^as some invariable connexion between 
confession and penance. 

After the institution of secular canons had found 
its w^ay into Ireland, the Culdees in many cases ap- 
pear to have joined it, observing its regulations in 
addition to their own particular rule. They were 
chiefly attached to the cathedral establishments, and 
continued in the Church to a very late period. In 
the time of Archbishop Ussher there w^ere Culdees 
connected with many of the larger churches in the 
north of Ireland — especially Armagh and Clogher — 
who performed the daily service at the cathedrals, 
and were governed by a prior of their own order. It 
has been said that the Culdees of Armagh were a cor- 
porate body, and possessed of a considerable landed 
property. 

One of the earliest writers connected with this 
order was Aengus Celi-de, a pious abbot-bishop who 



68 



AENGUS THE HAGIOLOGIST. 



flourished towards the close of the eighth century. 
He was educated in the monastery of Clonenagh, in 
the Queen's County, where he entered upon the coeli- 
bitic life. For some time he lived as a hermit at a 
desert place, called, from his name, Disert-Aenguis ; 
but afterwards he attached himself to the monastery 
of Tallaght, then governed by the Abbot Moelruan. 
Aengus was an enthusiastic admirer of the ancient 
martyrs and saints of the Christian Church, and es- 
pecially those who had flourished in Ireland. To 
commemorate their praises he composed a valuable 
poem in the Irish language, known as the Felire 
Aeiiguis^ or Festology of Aengus.' It is a kind of 
martyrology, or sacred calendar, curiously arranged 
in such a manner that to each day of the month are 
afl[ixed two lines in verse, into which are introduced 
the names of all the saints honoured on that day. 
The manuscript of this work, at present existing, is 
interlined with glosses and marginal notes, which are 
evidently added at a later period, and by more than 
one hand. Aengus expended much time and labour in 
the composition of this martyrology ; for he informs 
us that he consulted all the martyrologies within his 
reach, far and near, such as the works of Ambrose, 
Hilary, Jerome, and the martyrology of Eusebius. 
From these writers he collected the names of the 

* The Felire Aenguis is very minutely described in the de- 
scriptive catalogue of the mss. in the Library of the Royal Irish 
Academy. The catalogue has been recently drawn up by Mr. 
Curry. 



CH. VII.] AENGUS THE HAGIOLOGIST. 69 

holy men of foreign countries ; but from the " host 
of Ireland's books" he extracted all the information 
he needed with respect to the saints of his native 
Church. 

Aengus wrote another work upon a similar sub- 
ject, in which the names of the Irish saints were ar- 
ranged in a very fanciful order. The fifth book of 
this w^ork is a collection of " Litanies ;" and com- 
panies of saints are invoked in them, in a long series 
of daily prayers. They are classified in a manner 
not uncommon among the Irish ; as (for example) 
those who were educated under the same master ; or 
who united under the same leader to preach to the 
heathen ; or those who were buried in the same mon- 
astery. After thus enumerating various companies 
of domestic and foreign saints, the litany proceeds 
to invoke bishops of Churches celebrated in Ire- 
land, in companies of seven ; as the seven holy bi- 
shops of Ardpatrick, the seven holy bishops of Kill- 
decedan, <Src. 

It appears from this work, that the practice of 
invocating the saints obtained in Ireland towards the 
close of the eighth century. Whether the custom 
was of longer standing in the Irish Church, or whe- 
ther it gained admission even at this period into any 
of the public liturgies, it would not, perhaps, be easy 
to determine. There is an ancient liturgy still in 
existence, which invokes several of the older Irish 
saints ; but there are no certain means of ascertaining 
the period when these invocations were introduced 



70 INVOCATION OF SAINTS. 

into it. In other communions they found their way 
into the public litany about the seventh or eighth 
century ; and it is probable that the custom was soon 
adopted by the Irish, whose reverence for their holy 
men amounted to a superstition. However, no evi- 
dence exists of its prevalence in earlier ages, which 
appear to have been free from a practice that has 
proved so hurtful to the well-being of the Church. 



CH. VIII.] ST. KILIAN. 71 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ST. KILIAX, BISHOP OF FRANCONIA VIRGILIUS OF SALTZ- 

BURG — CLEMENS AND ALBINUS JOHN SCOPUS ERIGENA 

^' IRISH MISSIONARIES TO ICELAND. 

CoLUMBANUS is ail example of an Irish monk car- 
ried into distant countries through that extreme love 
of asceticism \vhich formed so prominent a feature 
in the religion of those times. He is a type of a large 
class of monks in the Irish Church, who, it must be 
acknowledged, pushed their attachment to the mon- 
astic life somewhat too far. Those who search into 
the history of Ireland will not fail to perceive, that a 
larger proportion of monks and hermits flourished in 
that country than was, perhaps, altogether compa- 
tible with a healthy state of religion. Yet if they 
all were the equals of Columbanus in piety and in 
learning, it is difficult to complain of their numbers 
being too great. 

St. Kilian may be adduced as an instance of the 
other class of Irish monks, who were prevailed on to 
leave their own country by a spirit chiefly missionary. 
These, indeed, formed a numerous body of holy and 
disinterested men, who thought no sacrifice too great 
to be made in behalf of the kingdom of Christ. It 



72 ST. KILIAN, 

was not the expectation of any temporal advantage 
that induced such persons to encounter the trials and 
dangers of a missionary life : but it was the simple 
desire of doing good, of advancing the interests of 
the Church, of reclaiming the outcasts, and bringing 
back the lost. And there is nothing more honour- 
able to the ancient Church in Ireland than this fact — 
admitted by every historian — that, although so re- 
mote and isolated in its position, it nevertheless al- 
most equalled Rome herself in the number of its 
missionaries. Scarcely is there a country in the south 
and west of Europe where Irish monks did not preach 
the Gospel, or erect monasteries. 

St. Kilian was born of noble parents, some time 
in the seventh century, and from childhood was de- 
voted to the service of religion. At the proper age 
he was admitted into one of the Irish monasteries, 
where he cheerfully submitted to the rigorous dis- 
cipline of the place, " taking up his cross," writes 
his biographer, " and following Christ." His deport- 
ment here soon won the affection of the other monks; 
and they gave him a proof of it by electing him 
their abbot, having first prevailed on him to take 
holy orders. 

This situation Kilian did not hold for any length 
of time. Anxious to visit other lands, he crossed 
over into Britain, and thence proceeded to Germany, 
passing through Gaul. He took up his abode at 
Wurtzburg, with the monks that accompanied him 
from Ireland, of whom one was a priest named Co- 



CH. VIII.] BISHOP OF FRANCONIA. 73 

loman, and another Totman, a deacon. It was tlieir 
wish to preach the Gospel to the people with w^hom 
they were sojourning ; but before they did so, Kilian 
visited Rome to obtain the sanction and support of 
Conon, the pope. According to some accounts, it was 
this prelate from whom St. Kilian received episcopal 
consecration, although other writers maintain that 
he was a bishop before leaving Ireland.^ Returning 
to Germany, St. Kilian commenced his labours, and 
these were attended w^ith much success. He con- 
verted Gozbert, the duke of Franconia, to the Chris- 
tian faith, and many others in the province shortly 
followed their ruler's example. But an unhappy cir- 
cumstance soon occurred, that brought his mission 
to an untimely end. It happened that the converted 
prince had married his brother's wife before he be- 
came a Christian. St. Kilian was aware of this, but 
had been unwilling to remonstrate upon the unlaw- 
fulness of such a marriage until Gozbert should be 
somewhat confirmed in his attachment to Christi- 
anity. He feared at first lest the stern morality of 
the Gospel might terrify the weak convert, and cause 
him to fall back into his former course of idolatry. 
A seasonable opportunity, however, arrived at length, 
and Kilian addressed the duke in these words : — 
" My son, whom I have begotten in the Gospel, I 
rejoice greatly at the progress you are making in the 
faith. Yet it grieves me much that you are entangled 

1 Lanigan, vol. Hi. p. 120. 
H 



ST. KILIAN. 



in unlawful nuptials ; and I fear greatly lest such a 
marriage keep you back from the right way. For 
the wise man says, ' Whoso offends in one point loses 
many goods ;' and the Apostle James witnesses, that 
' whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend 
in one point, he is guilty of all/ Besides, man is 
created anew in baptism, not in part, but altogether. 
That he may therefore become entirely a new crea- 
ture, he ought to retain none of his former errors." 
Gozbert was naturally much distressed at hearing 
this expostulation ; but religious principle overcom- 
ing every other feeling, he promised that a separa- 
tion should take place so soon as he returned from 
an expedition on which he was about to set out. 
During his absence, however, the nature of Kilian s 
remonstrance reached the ears of Geilana (for this 
was the name of the duke's wife), and it filled her 
with indignation and resentment. She determined 
to have her revenge, and hired some ruffians, who 
entered the chapel while Kilian and his companions 
were engaged in nocturnal prayer, and put them all 
to death. Great efforts were made to conceal the 
murder of the missionaries ; and upon the duke's 
return home, he was assured that they had privately 
taken their departure from his dominions; but the 
truth w^as discovered before long, and it is said 
that the unhappy queen died afterwards in great 
misery. The memory of St. Kilian was venerated 
for many ages in the province of Franconia; and 
the church, of which he was a principal founder, 



CH. VIII.] VIRGILIUS OF SALTZBURG. 75 

is the best monument that could be raised to his 
piety and to his zeal.^ 

Virgilius, bishop of Saltzburg, in the year 767, 
was another missionary from Ireland. He was an 
active and laborious prelate, and a learned man. The 
cathedral of Saltzburg was erected by him, and de- 
dicated to God, in memory of St. Rupert. He was 
thirteen years engaged in building it. He founded 
also many monasteries, repaired those that had fallen 
into decay, and laboured much to consolidate the 
interests of religion in his diocese. Nor was his at- 
tention confined to these matters, important as they 
undoubtedly were. He did all in his power to in- 
crease the progress of Christianity in the neighbour- 
ing province of Carinthia, by sending its inhabitants 
a bishop and clergy, and watching over their spi- 
ritual interests with anxious solicitude. In conse- 
quence of his exertions in their behalf, Virgilius has 
been called " the Apostle of Carinthia." He died in 
the year 784 or 785.- 

Virgilius had some unpleasant disputes with the 
illustrious St. Boniface, the archbishop of the Ger- 
man provinces included under the ancient name of 
Thuringia. In his conduct toward this great and 
good man he was, perhaps, deficient in the reverence 

^ Vide Vita S. Kiliani. apud Messingham, p. 319, &c. 

^ An imperfect Life of St. Vii'gilius is published in Mes- 
singham' s Florilegium. The liistory of his disputes with St. 
Boniface may be gathered from the epistles of that prelate and 
Pope Zachary, printed in Ussher's Sylloge, ep. xvi. xvii. 



76 CLEMENS AND ALBINUS. 

and submission that was due to him; and this was 
no uncommon failing in those Irish clergy who were 
about the same period scattered over Germany. Vir- 
gilius is also said to have broached a doctrine, as it 
was then called, which was not far from bringing 
him into serious difficulties. The opinion that " there 
was another world and other men under the earth," 
appeared like heresy in the eighth century, although 
now in a sound sense every where received. Vir- 
gilius maintained this truth, and in all probability had 
learned it in the schools of Ireland. But Zachary, the 
pope, when informed that he inculcated so strange 
an opinion, addressed a letter to St. Boniface, di- 
recting him to call a synod which should deprive 
Virgilius of his office, and expel him from the 
Church. Fortunately, however, the synod was not 
assembled. 

A few years before the death of Virgilius two 
remarkable natives of Ireland visited Gaul, of whom 
the following story is related : — It happened that 
some British merchants arrived on the French coasts, 
accompanied by two persons, whose names were 
Clemens and Albinus.^ They were " incomparably 

* It is not certain that Albinus was the name of Clemens' 
companion. Colgan and other writers have conjectured that 
it was John (not Erigena). Albinus was probably an assumed 
name, as in the case of Alcuin of England, who took the sur- 
name of Albinus. The whole story has been questioned by 
one or two authors, but, I believe, without sufficient authority. 
Dr. Lanigan, in a long note (vol. iii. p. 210-212), quotes, 



CH. VIII.] CLEMENS AND ALBINUS. 77 

skilled in secular and sacred Scriptures." Day after 
day they appeared amongst the merchants ; but in- 
stead of exposing any wares for sale, they used to 
stand and cry, " If any desire wisdom, let him come 
to us and receive it, for we have it for sale." The 
people were much astonished at their course of pro- 
ceeding, and some thought them not right in their 
senses. At last their fame reached the ears of Char- 
lemagne, who was always the patron of learned men. 
Charlemagne sent for them, asked them many ques- 
tions, and was so pleased with the intelligence and 
sincerity of their replies, that he for a time enter- 
tained them at his court, and persuaded Clemens to 
remain in Gaul, and to open a school for the young 
of every rank.^ He sent Albinus into Italy, and 

amongst others, the authority of Muratori in support of its 
authenticity. I have no opportunity of consulting the work 
of this learned author, whose opinion, together with the judg- 
ment of Colgan, Ussher, and others, must weigh strongly in 
favour of its substantial truth. See Ussher' s Sylloge, prsef. 

^ '' The establishment of pubhc schools in France is owing 
to Charlemagne. At his accession we are assured that no means 
of education existed in his dominions ; and in order to restore 
in some degree the spirit of letters, he was compelled to invite 
strangers from countries where learning was not so thoroughly 
extinguished. Alcuin of England, Clement of Ireland, Theo- 
dulf of Germany, were the true Paladins who repaired to his 
court. With the help of these he revived a few sparks of dili- 
gence, and established schools in different cities of his empire ; 
nor was he ashamed to be the disciple of that in his own palace, 
under the care of Alcuin." — Hallam's Middle Jges, vol. iii. 
p. 520. 

H 2 



78 JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA. 

committed to him the monastery of St. Augustin at 
Pavia, " so that all who wished might resort to him 
there for instructioD." 

These instances may enable the student of his- 
tory to form some conception of the active mission- 
ary spirit that prevailed in the Irish Church during 
the seventh and eighth century. Unfavourably cir- 
cumstanced as it was in many respects, especially in 
its ecclesiastical and political position, it was still 
enabled to get the better of its difficulties, and to 
train up within its schools active missionaries and 
holy saints. Its course of prosperity was soon inter- 
rupted by unhappy events; but up to this time the 
Church in Ireland had done much to advance the 
welfare of religion ; and the monks that were sent to 
other countries were not only remarkable for their 
sincerity and zeal, but also for their shrewdness and 
ability. They were in general, as in the case of 
Columbanus and Virgilius, men of learning and eru- 
dition. This they had acquired in the Irish monastic 
foundations, where the holy Scriptures, the writings 
of the fathers, and even secular literature, still con- 
tinued to be studied and to be taught. 

A remarkable proof that attention was paid to 
the acquisition of secular learning may be found in 
the history of John Scotus Erigena, a native of Ire- 
land, who flourished in the ninth century. The ac- 
counts of his life are obscure; but it is generally 
admitted that he received an education in Ireland 
before he went to France, where he was induced to 



CH. VIII.] JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA. 79 

settle at the invitation of King Charles the Bald. 
John Scotus surpassed most of his contemporaries in 
acquaintance with the Greek language, and ranked 
as one of the principal philosophers of his age. At 
the request of King Charles he translated the works 
attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, from the 
original Greek, and thus exercised an important in- 
fluence over the subsequent history of philosophy. 
His own philosophical opinions were many of them 
fanciful in the extreme, and some most unsound. 
He was, however, a man of extensive information, 
and is noticed here chiefly on account of his profi- 
ciency in the Greek tongue, which it is very pro- 
bable that he had learned in Ireland; for there 
seems good ground to believe that some Greek ec- 
clesiastics settled amongst the Irish in the sixth or 
seventh century. They would appear to have fixed 
their abode at Trim, in the county of Meath, the 
church of which was known popularly as " the 
Greek Church," even so late as the time of Arch- 
bishop Ussher, and perhaps at a still more recent 
period. It is also remarkable, that one of those who 
accompanied Virgilius to Saltzburg was a bishop 
named Dobdan, who is expressly called a Greek} 
John Scotus 2 was engaged in many of the con- 

* Vide Ussher' s Sylloge, ep. xvi. note. The Rev. Richard 
Butler, the present learned vicar of Trim, has printed a small 
tract on the antiquities of his church, entitled '' Some Notices 
of the Church of St. Patrick, Trim :" Trim, 1837. 

- Mr. Hallam has a high opinion of the genius of John 



80 IRISH MISSIONARIES TO ICELAND. 

troversies that agitated the Galilean Church in the 
ninth century. In particular, he interested himself 
in the disputes respecting the recently promulgated 
opinion of Paschase Radbert about the mode of 
Christ's Presence in the Eucharist. Scotus wrote 
upon this subject, and is said to have opposed the 
doctrine of transubstantiation. The work is lost; 
but his views on other points are so fanciful, that, 
were it in existence, it would probably be found to 
contain some theory of his own, rather than the true 
judgment of the Catholic Church. 

Dr. Lanigan asserts, that prior to the times of 
John Scotus, and probably much earlier, " the Irish 
had extended their missions even to Iceland, which 
they called Thule, or Tyle, and which it seems they 
had a knowledge of as far back as the fifth century. 
Whether it was inhabited at that early period it is 
difficult to determine; but it is certain that it con- 
tained inhabitants long before the time assigned by 
some writers for its first population. At whatso- 
ever time Irish missionaries first visited that island, 
there can be no doubt of some of them having 

Scotus : — '* I am not aware/^ he writes, *' that there appeared 
more than two really considerable men in the republic of let- 
ters from the sixth to the middle of the eleventh century — 
John, surnamed Scotus, or Erigena, a native of Ireland; and 
Gerbert, who became pope by the name of Sylvester II. : the 
first endowed with a bold and acute metaphysical genius ; the 
second excellent, for the time in which he lived, in mathematical 
science and mechanical inventions." — Middle Ages, vol. iii. 
p. 335. 



CH. VIII.] IRISH MISSIONARIES TO ICELAND. 81 

been there in the eighth century; and it may be 
justly laid down, that this mission was kept up 
until the arrival of the Norwegians, wdio expelled 
the Irish clergy." ^ 

* Lanigan, vol. iii. p. 220. See Appendix. 



82 INVASION OF THE DANES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE INVASION OF THE DANES THEIR CONVERSION TO 

CHRISTIANITY BATTLE OF CLONTARF DEATH OF BRIAN 

BORU — CORMAC, BISHOP OF CASHEL. 

In the mean while the political horizon of the 
island began to be overcast with dark clouds. In 
addition to the harassing feuds of the provincial 
nobles, its coasts were inundated by swarms of 
Scandinavian pirates ; whose irruptions, of neces- 
sity, tended to deteriorate the civil and religious 
condition of the people. The account of their in- 
vasion belongs more properly to the secular than 
the religious history of Ireland ; and I shall not, 
therefore, enter into any further detail than is re- 
quisite to give a fair picture of the injuries inflicted 
on the Church. 

The Danes first landed in Ireland in the year 
795. Their ravages upon this occasion were con- 
fined to the small island of Rathlin ; but returning 
in the year 798, they laid waste the greater part 
of the province of Ulster. For several succes- 
sive years they carried on their depredations with 
scarcely any intermission. Most of the celebrated 
churches and monasteries fell beneath the violence 
of their swords. Armagh was plundered more than 



CH. IX.] CO^^VERSION OF THE DANES. 83 

once, and its bishop and clergy either put to death, 
or compelled to fly. The monastery of Bangor suf- 
fered repeatedly from their attacks. On one occa- 
sion, 900 of the monks connected with it were 
slain.^ In like manner, the abbeys of Glendaloch, 
Kells, Clonmacnoise, and others too numerous to 
be specified, were burned or pillaged, their libra- 
ries destroyed, and their monks put to death. 
Even the secluded Isle of lona did not escape the 
rapacious violence of the Danes. 

Towards the close of the tenth century, the tide 
of fortune began to turn against the invaders. The 
Danish occupiers of Dublin were peculiarly unsuc- 
cessful ; and it was owing probably to their con- 
tinued disasters that they were induced to make 
a public profession of Christianity, about the year 
948. The other settlers soon followed their ex- 
ample ; and before the end of this same century, 
almost all the Danes in Ireland had embraced the 
Christian faith. They had three maritime cities in 
their possession — Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. 
Over these, bishops were in time appointed ; but 
in consequence of the jealousies entertained of the 
Irish, the Danes used to send them into England 
for consecration. Indeed, they separated themselves 
altogether from the rest of the Irish Church ; and 
instead of submitting to the primatial authority of 
the see of Armagh, prevailed on the Archbishops 
of Canterbury to receive them into their protection, 
^ S. Bernard. Vita S. Malach. cap. v. 



84 CONVERSION OF THE DANES. 

This continued for a long time to be a source of 
considerable annoyance to the Irish primates, who 
could ill brook a dependence upon the metropo- 
litan of another kingdom, which they conceived 
to be somewhat derogatory to the dignity of their 
own seeJ 

The unbecoming spirit which pervaded the 
Danes of Ireland may be traced in the following 
letter, sent by the burgesses of the city of Dublin 
to the English primate, requesting him to conse- 
crate Gregory as their bishop, and to continue the 
spiritual relationship that had for some time existed 
between Dublin and Canterbury. The epistle was 
written in the year 1122: — 

" To the most reverend and most religious Lord 
Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, all the burgesses 
of the city of Dublin, and the whole assembly of 
the clergy, wish eternal health : Whereas very many, 
holy father, reverence thee on account of thy deep 
piety, and all the faithful, for thy great faith and 
sound doctrines, love and honour thee, we judge it 
fitting to send unto you Gregory, by the grace of 
God, our bishop elect. For we have always will- 
ingly placed our bishops under the government of 
thy predecessors, from whom we are mindful that 
our prelates received their ecclesiastical dignity. 
Know you truly, that the bishops of Ireland have 
great indignation against us, and that bishop espe- 

^ See particularly Ussher's Religion of the Ancient Irish, 
cap. viii. 



CH. IX.] BATTLE OF CLONTARF. 85 

cially who dwells at Armagh, because we are un- 
willing to obey their ordination, but always wish 
to be under your dominion. Therefore, as suppli- 
cants, we seek your help to advance Gregory to the 
sacred order of the episcopate ; if you are willing to 
retain any longer that spiritual relationship which 
for so long a time we have preserved unto you." 

The conversion of the Danes did not put an 
end to their predatory excursions, nor much im- 
prove their moral condition. They continued to 
pillage and plunder as usual, until their power was 
at length effectually crushed on the field of Clon- 
tarf; where a battle, fought on Good Friday, in 
the year 1014, terminated in their decisive over- 
throw. The Irish were commanded in this engage- 
ment by Brian Boru, monarch of Ireland — a prince 
possessed of higher endowments and greater virtues 
than were usually met with in the other chieftains of 
his age. Brian, unfortunately, fell on the field of 
battle.^ His dying words are said to have been,— 

^ *' Long his loss shall Erin weep — 
Ne'er agam his likeness see ; 
Long her strains in sorrow steep — 
Strains of immortality. ' ' 

Gray's Ode of the Fatal Sisters. 
In the note appended to this ode, there is evident reference to 
the battle of Clontarf ; but the poet was not familiar with Irish 
history. Gray speaks of the battle as if it had been fought 
upon Christmas - day, instead of Good Friday ; and between 
Sigurt, earl of Orkney, and Brian, king of Dublin, instead of 
Sitric, king of Dublin, and Brian Boru, monarch of Ireland. 

I 



86 DEATH OF BRIAN BORU. 

" The strongest hand uppermost ;'' or, as it may 
more piously be rendered, " the strongest hand is 
from above ;" victory is the gift of God. The 
body of King Brian was carried by his soldiers to 
Armagh, and was buried in a stone coffin at the 
north side of the altar, with such pomp and cere- 
mony as these rude times could invent. After the 
battle of Clontarf, the Danes began gradually to 
amalgamate with the Irish, and to allow their mu- 
tual jealousies to sink into oblivion. They soon 
became one people ; and the lapse of another cen- 
tury scarcely left a trace of difference between the 
two races. 

But it was not so easy to obliterate the marks 
of the injury that had been inflicted on the Church 
by their hostile contentions. Far readier is it to 
hurt religion than to heal her wounds. The whole 
system of the Church was broken in upon ; the 
monasteries lay waste ; the sacred edifices were in 
ruins ; the discipline of the clergy and monks was 
relaxed, so that many o^ them fell into disorderly 
practices. Until this period the crime of simony 
was unknown in Ireland, which now began to ob- 
tain in it ; and it spread amongst the Irish clergy 

I am not aware that there was any king of Dublin named 
Brian in the eleventh century. The principal authorities con- 
cerning the battle of Clontarf are the Annals of Ulster, and, 
perhaps, Keating' s History of Ireland ; but I have had within 
my reach only Ware's Antiquities, O'Conor's Dissertations, 
and similar works. 



CH. IX.] DEATH OF BRIAN BORU. 87 

more than perhaps it otherwise would have done? 
from the circumstance that there were so many 
bishops in the country who had no fixed sees.^ 
These, when forced by the Danes to seek shelter in 
foreign lands, were guilty of so many irregularities 
in ordaining persons without the permission of their 
lawful bishops, that a Gallican synod was compelled 
to pass a canon, declaring their ordinations simonia- 
cal.2 In like manner, an English council, held in 
the year 816, decreed that Irish priests should not 
be permitted to administer the sacraments, because 
it was not known from whom they had received 
their ordination. 

Formerly it had been one of the grievances of 
the Irish clergy that they were compelled, by their 
tyrannical chieftains, to attend them on the field of 
battle. But in the year 799, the clergy remon- 
strated with Hugh, king of Ireland, against the 
continuance of such a service; and with some dif- 
ficulty obtained an exemption from it. Notwith- 
standing this, however, the troubles of the times 
appear to have inflamed the minds of some of the 
clerical order with a military enthusiasm altogether 

* * * The practice of raisiag persons to the episcopacy, with- 
out being attached to fixed sees, had been carried so far in Ire- 
land, that it is not to be wondered at that some of them might 
have made a trade of their rank." — Lanigan, iii. p. 275. See 
before. Chapter IV. 

2 Lanigan, iii. p. 274, from Fleury, Hist. Eccl. lib. xlvi. 
sec. 5. 



OO CORMAC, BISHOP OF CASHEL. 

unsuitable to their peculiar calling.^ Cormac Mac- 
Cullenan, first bishop of Cashel, is the most remark- 
able instance of this misplaced ardour. He was 
far from being a careless or a bad man ; and was 
devoted to a kind of genealogical learning very 
popular among the Irish. He was king as well 
as bishop of Cashel, which latter office he under- 
took in the year 901. Yet the life of Cormac was 
almost entirely passed on the battle-field. He had 
constant feuds with the neighbouring chieftains, 
and he died fighting against Flann, the monarch of 
Ireland. Three abbots were in his army, and one 
of them was a principal commander in the battle. 

Cormac MacCullenan was the compiler of an 
ancient miscellany, called The Psalter of Cashel? 
It consisted of various genealogical tales, poems, 
and tracts on historical and other subjects, which 

* One must not judge these warlike priests too severely. In 
mucli more enlightened times, William III. was on the point of 
bestowing a bishopric on an Irish clergyman, whose only pre- 
tensions to so high an office were, that he had successfully de- 
fended the city of Derry against the army of King James II. He 
was afterwards killed in battle. There is a monument erected 
to the memory of this clergyman in Derry, and he is looked 
upon by a certain party as a pattern of loyalty and religion. 

^ The name " Psalter'^ was probably given to books of this 
kind, because learned men began to make collections of such 
valuable tracts or poems as they were able to transcribe, by 
stitching them to their Psalters, in order to preserve them. 
From this the whole collection came to be called *^ Psalters," 
after the one properly so called had ceased to exist. 



CH. IX.] CORMAC, BISHOP OF CASHEL. 89 

he was enabled from time to time to collect or to 
transcribe. One may judge of the antiquity of 
these treatises from the fact, that Cormac composed 
a glossary to explain such Irish words occurring in 
them as were becoming obsolete in his day. The 
glossary is still in existence,^ but the fate of " the 
Psalter" is not known. 

It is also popularly supposed that Cormac's cha- 
pel, on the rock of Cashel, was erected by this pre- 
late ; but it seems to be a more probable opinion 
that the chapel was built in the year 11^37; and 
that it owed its foundation to the piety of Cormac 
MacCarthy, king of Munster, from whom, and not 
from the other Cormac, its name is derived. 

^ It is at present in the press for the members of the Irish 
Archseolo^ical Society. 



I 2 



90 USURPATION OF THE SEE OF ARMAGH. 



CHAPTER X. 

USURPATION OF THE SEE OF ARMAGH, AND OF ABBEY-LANDS 
— COMORBANS— ERENACHS — EPISTLE OF LANFRANC OF 
CANTERBURY. 

A CURIOUS abuse originated during the confusion 
of these times, which, more than any other cause, 
contributed to weaken ecclesiastical discipline and 
to accelerate the decline of religion in Ireland. A 
powerful Irish family seized upon the see of Ar- 
magh, and contrived for a long series of years to 
fill the chair of St. Patrick with members of their 
own family. The usurpation commenced about the 
year 926. The first possessors of the see were in 
holy orders ; but after a time this restriction was 
broken through, and eight married laymen in suc- 
cession enjoyed the revenues of Armagh, assuming 
the title and privileges of the archbishop. They 
retained, however, coadjutor bishops, lawfully con- 
secrated, who performed all their spiritual duties, 
and were, in fact, the rightful prelates of the 
Church. Historians are not agreed about the name 
of the clan who thus intruded into the most exalted 
dignity in the Irish Church. Some suppose it to 
have been a branch of the O'Neills, and others of 
the Maguires of Fermanagh; but the most pro- 



CH. X.] USURPATION OF THE ABBEY-LANDS. 91 

bable conjecture makes it the poster! t}^ of Daire, 
the chieftain who is said to have given to St. Pa- 
trick the ground on which the church and city 
of Armagh were erected. Whatever was the name 
of the family, it l3ecame extinct in the twelfth 
century; and this was justly regarded as a judg- 
ment from Heaven for the sacrilege and impiety 
of its members.^ 

A similar evil affected some of the ancient mon- 
astic institutions. The Danes having put to flight 
great numbers of the Irish monks, it was not easy 
afterwards to reassemble them, or to rebuild at once 
all the conventual houses that had been plundered. 
In the mean while, the lands of some of the ruined 
monasteries were invaded by another sort of plun- 
derers — the powerful neighbouring chieftains, who 
seized upon them for their own private benefit. To 
preserve the remainder from a similar fate, and to 
keep them for the use of the Church in a season 
of greater prosperity, the clergy thought it would 
be a good plan to consign them to the custody of 
laymen, elected by themselves as guardians of the 
ecclesiastical possessions. These persons sometimes 
assumed the title of abbots, " preserving the name, 
although not the reality." But in process of time 
they proved not less rapacious than those they were 
appointed to guard against. They appropriated to 

1 S. Bernard. Vita S. Malach. cap. %^. See also Colgan, 
Tr. Th. p. 302, 303. 



92 . COMORBANS. 

themselves the property entrusted to their care, and 
allowed the clergy only the tithes and dues ; thus 
often putting it out of the Church's power to re- 
store a ruined monastery.^ 

These stewards of the ecclesiastical lands were 
generally called by the names of Comorban and 
Erenach. The title " Comorban" was properly ap- 
plied to the successor of some distinguished abbot. 
Thus the Abbot of lona or of Derry was styled 
the " Comorban or successor of Colum-cille." It 
is doubtful whether the Irish ever gave this title 
to the successors of bishops as such. It is true, 
indeed, that the successors of St. Patrick, and of 
other distinguished prelates, were generally called 
the Comorhans ; but then (as Colgan observes) 
these prelates were abbots as well as bishops. How- 
ever, the name was often applied to persons hold- 
ing even inferior ecclesiastical dignities ; and when 
laymen came into possession of a portion of the 
Church -property, being entrusted with the guar- 
dianship of it by the clergy, it would appear that 
they also were allowed to assume the title. Some 
are of opinion that the appellation was restricted 
to those laymen who were connected with the ori- 
ginal benefactors to the particular churches or mon- 
asteries, to whom the lands naturally reverted when 
the conventual houses were deserted. It is said 

^ S. Bernard. Vita S. Malachise, cap. v. (Messingham^s 
edition). Giraldus Camb. Itiner. Camb. L. c. 4, quoted by 
Lanigan, iv. p. 79. 



CH. X.] EREXACHS. 93 

also that these Comorbans acknowledged themselves 
to be under the authority of the bishop of the dio- 
cese, by the payment of a slight annual contribu- 
tion. But however this be, it eventually became 
customary for most of the usurpers of ecclesiastical 
livings and property to be designated Comorbans 
or Corbes.^ 

According to the original constitution of the 
Erenachs, they would appear to have been the man- 
agers of the property of the Church. The word is 
said to signify an archdeacon. The Erenachs were 
always laymen. Their office was to distribute alms 
to the poor, to exercise hospitality, and to keep the 
churches in order. But whatever may have been 
their primitive duty, they soon became, like the 
lay Comorbans, usurpers of the Church-lands. In 
many places they managed to get into their posses- 
sion all the estates of the bishops, paying them only 
certain dues or head-rents. These usurpations they 
transmitted to their posterity, or at least to the sept 
to which they belonged, according to the Irish 
laws of succession and inheritance. On the death 
of an Erenach, the sept used to elect another from 
among themselves ; and in case they did not agree, 

* Colgan derives the Irish word '' Comhorba," or *' Comor- 
ban," from ** comb/' together with, and " forba," land; and 
says it is equivalent to the Latin word conterraneus, sharing 
the same land. The word came to be applied to abbots and 
prelates, because they succeeded not only to the ecclesiastical 
dignity, but also to the lands and farms. — J^ias Thaum. pp. 
630, 631. 



94 LANFRANC OF CANTERBURY. 

the bishop and clergy were authorised to interfere 
and select an Erenach out of the sept; for they 
could not take their property into their own hands.^ 
If the whole sept became extinct, it was necessary 
to look out for another, to which it should be trans- 
ferred, and which would be vested with the right 
of electing the Erenach, under the same conditions 
and charges as those observed by his predecessors. 
Similar regulations existed with regard to the lay 
Comorbans, who differed from the Erenachs chiefly 
in possessing more land, and sometimes having Ere- 
nachs under them.^ 

Such was the exaction and plunder to which 
the Church was obliged to submit ; yet it had 
been well if the disorders terminated here. Un- 
fortunately, however, the strength of religion was 
so greatly weakened by relaxed discipline, that it 
was unable to oppose sufficiently the progress of 
decay. The history of the eleventh century pre- 
sents nothing to interest, and little to console, 
the student. Intestine w^ar harassed the state, 
while oppression weighed down the Church ; and, 
to complete the sad picture, many practices gained 

^ To this day the peasantry, who are the hereditary de- 
scendants of Erenachs, have in their possession ancient cro- 
ziers, boxes, reliquaries, chalices, &c., handed down from father 
to son. — See the account of St. Grellan's crozier, in ** The 
Tribes and Customs of Hymany,'' edited by Mr. O'Donovan, 
for the Irish Archaeological Society, p. 81, note. 

2 Lanigan, vol. iv. p. 84, from whom the most of this ac- 
count of the Comorbans and Erenachs is taken. 



CH. X.] EPISTLE OF LANFRANC. 95 

ground of a nature most hurtful to the cause of 
religion. 

It was towards the close of this same century 
that the attention of Lanfranc, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, was directed to the condition of the Church 
in Ireland. He saw the evils that threatened it, and 
the disorders that were gaining ground ; and with 
the energy natural to his character, this celebrated 
prelate immediately exerted himself to check their 
growth. He addressed several letters to the Irish 
princes and bishops. One w^as written to Gothric, 
the Danish king of Dublin, whose city and bishop, 
it may be remembered, was lately placed under his 
own episcopal care. Another epistle was forwarded 
to Turlogh, monarch of Ireland — a prince, per- 
haps, of some abilities, but unhappily too much oc- 
cupied in the civil wars of the country to be in a 
condition to perform any real service to the Church. 
However, he was the only person in the island who 
had sufficient power to remedy in any measure the 
disorders of religion and morals ; and Lanfranc, 
therefore, deemed it necessary to stir him up on 
behalf of the Church's welfare, in the following 
mild and courteous language : — 



» 



" Lanfranc, sinner, and unworthy Archbishop 
of the holy church of Canterbury, to Tur- 
logh, the renowned King of Ireland — bene- 
diction, service, and prayers. 

" In no respect does Almighty God shew greater 



96 EPISTLE OF LANFRANC. 

mercy to the earth than when those are advanced 
to spiritual or temporal dominion who love peace 
and justice ; and especially when the kingdoms of 
this world are entrusted to the control of righteous 
monarchs. Hence peace springs up, discord is 
lulled to sleep ; and, to embrace every thing in few 
words, the observance of the Christian religion is 
secured. This blessing, every prudent observer 
perceives, has been conferred by divine grace on 
the people of Ireland, when the Almighty conceded 
to your excellency the right of royal authority over 
that land. For we have received such an account 
from our brother and fellow-bishop, Patrick, of 
your highness's pious and humble bearing towards 
good men — your rigorous severity to the depraved, 
and the prudent equity of your conduct towards 
all, that although we have never seen you, we yet 
love you as if we had ; and would give you whole- 
some advice, and serve you with the utmost sin- 
cerity, just as if we had both seen and were well 
acquainted with you. 

" But in the midst of much that pleases us, some 
matters have been narrated that please us not : how 
that in your kingdom every one at pleasure aban- 
dons his lawful wife for no canonical cause ; and, 
with most reprehensible temerity, unites himself in 
marriage or concubinage to another, perhaps a near 
relation of his own, or of his deserted wife, or else 
one that has been similarly abandoned by some 
equally wicked husband — that bishops are conse- 



CH. X.] EPISTLE OF LANFRANC. 97 

crated by one bishop only — that infants are bap- 
tised without consecrated chrism — that holy orders 
are conferred by bishops for money. That these 
and similar abuses are contrary to evangelic and 
apostolic authority, to the decrees of sacred canons, 
and the institution of all the orthodox fathers who 
have gone before us, no one even moderately versed 
in sacred writings can be ignorant; which, the more 
they are hateful in the sight of God and His saints, 
so much the more earnestly should they be re- 
strained by your commands without delay ; and if 
your prohibition be insufficient for their correction, 
the perpetrators of them ought to be punished with 
the utmost rigour of your authority. For no greater 
or more acceptable offering can you present unto 
God than a steady desire to govern your kingdom, 
both in spiritual and temporal matters, according to 
the just and proper laws. 

" Wherefore, ever mindful of the divine judg- 
ment, before which you must one day give account 
to God of the kingdom committed to your charge, 
command the bishops and all the religious men to 
come together; be present with your nobles in their 
assembly ; endeavour to drive away from your do- 
minions these depraved customs, and all that is 
disapproved by the sacred laws ; so that the King 
of kings and Lord of lords, when He shall behold 
your royal majesty obedient in every particular to 
His commands, gentle towards His servants and the 
faithful, through fear and love of Him, and enraged 

K 



98 LANFRANC OF CANTERBURY. 

with divine zeal against the enemies of divine re- 
ligion, He himself also may favourably hear the 
prayers of you and of your people, may crush your 
enemies, and grant you continual peace in this age, 
and in a future, life eternal."^ 

It is probable that Lanfranc here enumerated 
almost all the grave corruptions that had been in- 
sinuated into the Irish Church. One of these was 
the natural result of the anarchy of the times, which 
had enabled the licentious and profane to shake off 
all the control of religion. With respect to the 
practice of episcopal consecration by one bishop 
only, a learned writer^ has attempted to shew that 
this charge originated in a misapprehension of the 
archbishop ; and that the custom only existed with 
respect to the consecration of the Chorepiscopi — an 
order that was kept up longer in Ireland than any 
where else. How far this is correct, I shall not un- 
dertake to determine ; and yet the story of the ordi- 
nation of Colum-cille^ is alone sufficient to make one 
suspect that the assertion of Lanfranc was only too 
well grounded. And, besides, it must be borne in 
mind that the archbishop derived his acquaintance 
with the state of the Church in Ireland, not from 
mere idle rumour, but from the testimony of his 
own suffragan, Patrick, bishop of Dublin. This, 

^ Usslier's Sylioge, ep. xxvii. This epistle was written in 
the year 1074. 

2 Lanigan, voL iii. p. 477. 

^ See before, Chapter V, p. 38. 



CH. X.] LANFRANC OF CANTERBURY. 99 

therefore, increases the improbability that he could 
have made a mistake on so important a matter. 

Lanfranc likewise notices among the evils of the 
Church, " that infants were baptised without conse- 
crated chrism." The practice of anointing children 
with holy oil at their baptisms did not obtain among 
the Irish until a later period than that now under 
review, although the antiquity of the custom else- 
where is unquestioned. Its origin may be traced at 
least as high as the early part of the fourth cen- 
tury ; and as it must have been in very general 
reception in the fifth, one is surprised that it had 
not found its way into Ireland. The omission of 
the practice, however, ought scarcely to have been 
ranked among the abuses of the times. It w^as never 
regarded as an essential part of the baptismal cere- 
monies, or as designed for any other use than edifi- 
cation. It was intended to remind the person 
brought to baptism that he was about to be made 
partaker of the true olive-tree — Jesus Christ ; for, 
being cut out of a wild olive-tree, and engrafted 
into a good one, he was to be a partaker of the fat- 
ness of that good tree.^ Whatever opinion, there- 
fore, one may form of the value of the ceremony it- 
self, it is confessedly one of those matters which it 
is in the power of any local Church to introduce or 
to give up, according to particular circumstances.- 

^ Bingham, vol. iii. p. 570. 

- " With regard to baptising without chrism, Lanfranc was 
greatly mistaken in supposing that either the apostles or evan- 



100 LANFRANC OF CANTERBURY. 

Troublesome times are not very favourable to 
the growth of piety and learning ; yet we learn from 
the Irish annals and similar sources, that even in 
the midst of this dark period, there flourished in 
Ireland many learned and pious men, chiefly monks 
and bishops, whose prayers ascended up to heaven 
night and day, for the well-being and safety of the 
Church. Irish monks also continued to frequent 
foreign countries ; and among these may be men- 
tioned the name of Marianus Scotus, the chronicler, 
who was born in Ireland, and lived for some time 
as a monk in the monastery of Clonard. Domnald 
also, an Irish bishop, would appear to have been 
one of those who, amid many discouragements, de- 
voted themselves to pursuits of learning. He and 
some others sent a letter to Archbishop Lanfranc, in 
which they propounded to him a few questions on 
theological and secular subjects. One point they 
wished to be informed on was, whether the opinion 
prevailed in the English and other Churches, that it 
was necessary to the salvation of infants that they 
should receive the eucharist, as well as be baptised. 
In the answer he addressed to Domnald, Lanfranc 
of course assured him that no such opinion obtained 
in England ; and he gave him reasons to shew why 

gelists, or all the fathers and canons, prescribed the use of 
chrism in baptism. In itself it is not a rite at all essential to 
the validity of this sacrament. Nor was it in early times prac- 
tised in baptism, but immediately after it, as belonging to con- 
firmation." — Lanigarij vol. iii. p. 478. 



CH. X.] LANFRANC OF CANTERBURY. 101 

it could not be rightly held. But with respect to 
some purely literary questions that had been put to 
him, the reply of the archbishop was to this effect : 
— -" You sent us questions of secular letters to be 
solved ; but it does not become the episcopal office 
to be engaged in studies of this kind. Formerly, 
indeed, we wasted our youth in these matters ; but 
when we succeeded to the pastoral care, we resolved 
that they should be laid aside,"^ This, perhaps, was 
intended as a gentle rebuke to those learned doc- 
tors who deemed such matters not unworthy of their 
attention. To us, howxver, it is a proof that, not- 
withstanding the wars of the Danes, and the cala- 
mities of the Church, there were still some who 
found sufficient leisure and retirement to follow 
such humanising pursuits of literature as were then 
within their reach. And one would form an erro- 
neous view of the state of things even in that age, 
who could suppose such men likely to be so much 
engrossed w4th " secular letters," as to become ne- 
gligent of their psalms and hours, and the still 
higher study of the holy Scriptures. 

^ Ussher's Syiloge, ep. xxviii. 



K 2 



102 GILLEBERT, BISHOP OF LIMERICK. 



CHAPTER XL 

GILLEBERT, BISHOP OF LIMERICK ^ — HIS PLAN OF REFORMA- 
TION CELSUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH — SYNOD OFFIADH- 

MAC-iENGUSSA — OFFICE OF APOSTOLIC LEGATE INTRO- 
DUCED INTO IRELAND — SYNOD OF RATH-BREASAIL — ST. 
MALACHY. 

The exertions of Lanfranc were vigorously seconded 
by St. Anselm, the succeeding archbishop of Can- 
terbury, who, in several letters to the Irish princes 
and bishops, urged the necessity of removing the 
abuses pointed out by his predecessor.^ Among the 
prelates in Ireland he found one, in particular, who 
was quite willing to enter into his plans, and to pro- 
mote, as far as possible, the work of reformation. 
This was Gille, or Gillebert, bishop of Limerick, 
who in early life had been acquainted with St. An- 
selm, and had spent some time with him at Rouen. 
But their fortunes being cast upon different waters, 
the two friends had long lost sight of each other. 
St. Anselm, from the monastery of Bee, in Nor- 
mandy, succeeded to the primacy of England; while 
Gillebert was advanced to the see of Limerick. It 
was the latter who renewed their acquaintance in 
the year 1106. He wrote Anselm a letter of con- 

^ These letters may be seen in Ussher's Sylloge, ep. xxxiii. 
XXXV. and xxxvi. 



CH. XI.] GILLEBERT, BISHOP OF LIMERICK. 103 

gratulation upon the successful termination of his 
difficulties with the English court, and accompanied 
his letter with a present of twenty-five small pearls. 
In acknowledging the receipt of this gift, St. Anselm 
took occasion to allude to the religious disorders of 
the countrj^, and to suggest the propriety of some- 
thing being immediately done towards their re- 
moval. He advised Gillebert to try and arouse the 
Irish king and bishops to the necessity of engaging 
in this work, " by setting before them the rewards 
prepared for the good, and the miseries that await 
the wicked." 

Not inattentive to this advice, Gillebert exerted 
himself to correct the evils of the Church. His first 
care was directed to the liturgies then used in Ire- 
land. He wished to reduce all these to one uniform 
system ; or rather, to prevail on the bishops and 
abbots to agree to use only the liturgy that was 
then sanctioned by the Bishop of Rome. Such a 
scheme was both wise in itself, and entirely har- 
monised with the views of Pope Gregory VII., 
who had long successfully endeavoured to bring 
the other European Churches into complete con- 
formity with Rome, and thus to unite them more 
closely with the chair of St. Peter. This also 
formed a part of Gillebert's projected reforma- 
tion. The Irish Church had for several centuries 
been independent of the papal power, and had di- 
rected its own affairs, uncontrolled by any external 
authority. But Gillebert, during his sojourn on the 



104 GILLEBERT, BISHOP OF LIMERICK. 

continent, appears to have been captivated by the 
seductive theories of unity which a large portion of 
the Church had already espoused. And these were 
so very attractive in themselves, and promised so 
many advantages to religion, by consolidating its 
interests and increasing the security of the Church, 
that one can scarcely wonder at the readiness with 
which he received them. He saw that a closer 
union with Kome would extricate the Church from 
the power of the provincial chieftains, by whom its 
rights had been so often trampled upon ; but he 
overlooked the sacrifice of principle that was to be 
the price of the immediate benefit. Nor was such 
forgetfulness confined to the age of Gillebert. In 
every period of the Church's history, how many are 
found willing to purchase present advantage at the 
cost of high principle ! 

Gillebert recommended his views in a tract, 
which he shortly published, and entitled Of the Ec- 
clesiastical Use. In the preface to this treatise he 
says that, at the request and by the command of 
many of the Irish prelates and priests, he endea- 
voured to describe in it the canonical custom of 
reciting the hours, and performing the whole eccle- 
siastical office; "in order," he adds, "that those 
diverse and schismatical offices, which delude nearly 
all Ireland, may give way to one Catholic and Ro- 
man one. For what could be more indecent or 
schismatical than that he who is most skilled in one 
office, should become as an unlearned man and laic 



CH. XI.] CELSUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH. 105 

in another Church? Therefore whoever professes 
himself a member of the Catholic Church, as he is 
joined in one body by one faith, hope, charity, so 
is he commanded to praise God with one mouth 
and order along with the other members. Whence 
the apostle says, ' that ye may with one mind and 
one mouth glorify God.' As, then, the dispersion of 
tongues, caused through pride, is drawn to unity in 
apostolical humility ; so the confusion of ordinals, 
arisen through negligence and presumption, is to be 
led to the consecrated rule of the Roman Church 
by your zeal and humility." Gillebert then pro- 
ceeds to explain the different degrees and offices in 
the Church, in order to shew them " how unity of 
customs ought to be observed by the faithful." He 
draws a picture or chart of a Church, on loliicli he 
apportions the various sub-divisions of the Christian 
body ; and these he goes on to explain more parti- 
cularly. It is sufficient here to notice his funda- 
mental principle, " that all the members of the 
Church are subject to one Bishop, to wdt, Christ, 
and to His vicar, the blessed apostle Peter, and to 
the prelate presiding in his chair." ^ 

But the work of reformation was more effectu- 
ally carried on by Celsus, archbishop of Armagh, 
an active and laborious prelate. Celsus succeeded 
to the chair of St. Patrick in the year 1105. He 
owed his elevation to the influence of the family 
that had now, for nearly two centuries, retained 
^ See this Treatise in Ussher's SyUoge, ep. xxx. 



106 SYNOD OF FIADH-MAC-^NGUSSA. 

possession of the archiepiscopal revenues. He was 
himself a member of this usurping clan ; but, unlike 
his immediate predecessors in the rights of the see, 
was in holy orders. 

The archbishop commenced his reformations by 
convening, in the year 1111, the synod of Fiadh- 
mac-sengussa, which was attended by a large pro- 
portion of the prelates, nobles, and clergy of Ire- 
land. Many regulations were enacted in it relating 
to the improvement of the clergy and the amelio- 
ration of manners.^ But the synod is chiefly re- 
markable as being the last of those ancient national 
councils where the Church acted without the pre- 
sence of a legate apostolic. And here I may observe, 
that the constitution of those old synods had a 
greater resemblance to our modern parliaments than 
to assemblies strictly ecclesiastical. They were, in 
general, national conventions more than synodical 
meetings, and were almost always attended by the 
king and nobles, as well as the bishops and clergy. 
Sometimes they were summoned by the spiritual, 
and sometimes by the temporal power; and their 
proceedings were not entirely confined to the affairs 
of religion. 

The office of apostolic legate was about this 
time introduced into Ireland. Gillebert of Lime- 
rick was the first appointed to discharge its duties, 
and was probably recommended to the notice of the 
court of Rome by the zeal he had manifested in 
1 Lauigan, iv. p. 37. 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACHY. 107 

behalf of the papal claims. He exercised his new 
powers for the first time at the synod of Rath-brea- 
sail, convened shortly after that ah^eady noticed ; 
and here, as was usual for the apostolic legates, he 
took precedence of Celsus, the chief bishop of the 
country. Several laymen were also present at this 
synod, which was principally occupied in making a 
new division of the Irish dioceses, and fixing their 
boundaries. The whole country was divided into 
two provinces — those of Armagh and Cashel, whose 
prelates were endowed with metropolitan authority 
over the twelve bishoprics in their respective de- 
partments. The supreme power remained vested in 
the see of Armagh, as formerly; and Cashel had 
recently succeeded to the place of second honour, 
once enjoyed by the more ancient see of Emly, 
Limerick and Waterford, two of the Danish cities, 
were attached to the province of Cashel ; but Dub- 
lin, their other settlement, still remained subject to 
Canterbury. The synod likewise made some other 
regulations, confirming the revenues of the clergy 
and the Church-lands to the bishops for their sup- 
port, and exempting the ecclesiastical possessions 
from the payment of tribute and other taxes J 

The reforming party soon received a povrerful 
auxiliary in the person of Malachy 0*]Morgair, onj^ 
of the most remarkable bishops of his age. Like 
many of the Irish saints, he was descended from an 
ancient and honourable family. At an early age he 
^ Lanigan, iv. p. 41-43. 



108 ST. MALACHY. 

placed himself under the guidance of Imar, an holy 
anchorite, whose cell was situated near the church 
of Armagh. This man was living a very austere 
life, in constant watchings and fastings ; and it was 
the desire of Malachy to imitate his severity. He 
did so, to the surprise of most of his acquaintance, 
some of whom thought him too young to subject 
himself to such hardships, while others feared that 
he undertook more than his strength and persever- 
ance would enable him to go through with. His 
steadiness, however, disappointed their fears, and 
his example stirred up other young persons to fol- 
low his steps, and to learn from Imar the practice 
of obedience, humility, and silence. 

Malachy soon attracted the attention of Celsus, 
the archbishop, who admitted him to deacon's orders 
before he had attained the canonical age. After 
his ordination he applied himself publicly to every 
work of piety, especially to those that were least 
honourable. His greatest care was in attending to 
the burial of the deceased poor, which he conceived 
to be a work not less of humility than charity. At 
the age of twenty -five, Celsus advanced him to 
the priesthood, although he wanted five years to 
complete the usual term ; and not content with this 
mark of favour, he employed him in the important 
work of reforming the Church. Malachy gave his 
assistance in this task with great alacrity. It was 
chiefly through his instrumentality that " the apos- 
tolic sanctions and decrees of the holy fathers, and, 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACHY. 109 

in particular, the customs of the Roman Church, 
were ordained in all the churches." He introduced 
the Roman method of reciting the hours into the 
diocese of Armagh. He also restored the practice 
of confession, the rite of confirmation, and the 
solemnisation of matrimony ; all which, according 
to St. Bernard, had fallen into disuse in the same 
diocese. 

To increase his acquaintance with the customs 
of the Universal Church, Malachy visited Malchus, 
bishop of Lismore, " an old man, full of days and 
virtue, and the wisdom of God was in him." Mal- 
chus, although a native of Ireland, had been a monk 
of Winchester, where he had an opportunity of be- 
coming acquainted with the discipline and customs 
then sanctioned at Rome. When St. Malachy de- 
parted from Lismore, he retui*ned to his friends in 
the north, and was next engaged in restoring the 
monastery of Bangor, which had remained in ruins 
since its destruction by the Danes. With ten bre- 
thren he constructed on its site a wooden oratory, 
compact and firm, and sufiicient to afi'ord them the 
accommodation they required. In this humble 
edifice they renewed the service of God, as in the 
ancient days, with similar devotion, but not so 
numerous a company. Malachy was appointed the 
governor of the restored monastery, but was soon 
called to a higher office in the Church, having been 
prevailed upon to accept the vacant bishopric of 
Connor. He was consecrated about the thirtieth 

L 



110 ST. MALACHY. 

year of his age, and found his diocese in a sad state 
of disorder. But his unwearied exertions, before 
very long, succeeded in effecting a salutary change. 
Instead of ruined churches and neglected ordinances, 
we read that the churches were rebuilt, and clergy- 
men ordained for them, the sacraments duly admi- 
nistered, confession made, and the people regular at 
prayers. 

The days of Archbishop Celsus were now draw- 
ing to a close. It was by his sanction or sufferance 
that all recent alterations had taken place in the 
system of the Irish Church. But one great abuse 
remained to be corrected. It was the desire of 
Celsus, as well as of all honest Churchmen, that the 
hereditary succession, so long a disgrace to the see 
of Armagh, should be abolished. Accordingly, on 
his deathbed, he nominated Malachy his successor; 
and enjoined all the Irish, and in particular the two 
kings of Munster, to use their best exertions to see 
him seated in the chair of St. Patrick. Thus he 
hoped to terminate an evil that had caused no less 
scandal to the Church than injury to practical reli- 
gion. Celsus died in the year 1129, at Ardpatrick, 
in the county of Limerick ; and was buried at Lis- 
more, in compliance with his own request. Malachy 
permitted himself to be nominated to the vacant 
see, only upon condition that he should be allowed 
to resign it, so soon as it was rescued from its pre- 
sent unbecoming situation. The bishops reluctantly 
consented to this arrangement, and immediately made 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACHY. Ill 

every exertion to establish him at x^rmagh, but for 
some time their efforts did not meet with success. 

The old usurping family had power enough to 
place Maurice, one of their kinsmen, in the archi- 
episcopal chair ; and he retained possession for five 
years. Upon his death they intruded Niell, an- 
other of their connexions ; but he was at length ex- 
pelled, and Malachy established in the primatial see. 
The most important liberties of the Church being 
thus at last effectually vindicated, after a long and 
arduous struggle, the next three years were spent 
by the new archbishop in perfecting the reforms 
he had commenced during the lifetime of Celsus. 
At the end of this period he resigned the primacy 
to Geiasius, in accordance with the agreement 
made with the Irish prelates before his elevation ; 
and retired to the bishopric of Down, which he 
then separated from his former see of Connor. 

Malachy had not been long settled in his new 
position, when he conceived a desire to visit Rome, 
to obtain palls for the Irish archbishops, and to 
acquaint the pope with the condition of the Church 
in Ireland. But he was so very popular in the 
country, that when his intention became known, 
the people endeavoured to dissuade him from put- 
ting it into execution. They were unwilling that 
he should absent himself from them even for a 
time. But Malachy was not the person to alter 
a resolution once seriously formed. He therefore 
set forth on his journey to the imperial city. On 



112 ST. MALACHY. 

his way he stopped at the Abbey of Clairvaux, where 
he became acquainted with the illustrious 8t. Ber- 
nard, his future biographer. At Rome he was 
kindly received by Innocent IL, who then lilled the 
papal chair. He remained there a month, visiting 
all that was to be seen, and frequently conversing 
with the pope respecting the general state of reli- 
gion in Ireland. As Gillebert of Limerick was now, 
through age, unequal to the duties of his office, 
Innocent conferred on Malachy the dignity of apos- 
tolic legate. But he did not grant the palls as 
readily as was expected. He desired Malachy, upon 
his return, to convene a synod of the clergy and 
nobles, and through them to make an unanimous 
application for the palls, which should then be 
granted. The pope dismissed him in the most gra- 
cious manner. Taking off his mitre. Innocent placed 
it on the head of Malachy, and gave him likewise 
the stole and maniple he himself used to wear when 
officiating. Then the saint being saluted with the 
kiss of peace, was sent on his way, supported, says 
St. Bernard, by the apostolic benediction and au- 
thority. 

In returning to Ireland, Malachy paid another 
visit to Clairvaux, where he left a few of his com- 
panions, to be instructed in the discipline of the 
Cistercians, intending at a future period to intro- 
duce that order into his own country. Several 
letters subsequently passed upon this subject be- 
tween St. Bernard and him. In the year 1142, St. 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACHY. 113 

Bernard sent over the Irish monks who had been 
left at Clairvaux, and who were now fully qualified 
to establish a branch of their order in Ireland. They 
were accompanied by a few Cistercian monks of 
French extraction, and fixed their abode at Melli- 
font in the county of Louth ; where, by the ex- 
ertions of St. Malachy, a monastery was soon 
erected, and liberally endowed by O'Carol, prince 
of Oriel. 

In the mean time the affair of the palls was not 
forgotten. Malachy procured a synod to be held at 
Holmpatrick, in the year 114^8, which was numer- 
ously attended by the bishops and clergy. Gelasius, 
the archbishop of Armagh, sanctioned it with his 
presence, but Malachy presided as the apostolic le- 
gate. The synod w^as occupied for the first three 
days of its sitting with matters relating to the gene- 
ral welfare of the Church. Upon the fourth day the 
question of the palls was brought forward. The 
synod agreed to solicit them, and Malachy, at his 
own request, was deputed to make the application to 
the pope. Accordingly he set sail from Ireland, ex- 
pecting to meet Eugenius III. (one of the successors 
of Innocent, who was now^ dead) in France ; but he 
was disappointed, owing to unforeseen delays. How- 
ever, he proceeded to visit his friend St. Bernard, 
at Clairvaux, intending afterwards to prosecute his 
journey to Rome. But here he was suddenly taken 
ill, and died after a sickness of five days. He was 
buried in the oratory of the Blessed Virgin at Clair- 
L 2 



114 ST. MALACHY. 

vaux, and a funeral oration was delivered over his 
remains by St. Bernard, which is still extant among 
the printed works of that father. 

In reviewing the character of St. Malachy, it is 
impossible not to perceive that he was in a pre-emi- 
nent degree holy and devout, energetic in self-dis- 
cipline, and untiring in his exertions for the im- 
provement of the Church. Even the regard enter- 
tained for him by Bernard, which was first imbibed 
during a casual passing visit to Clairvaux, is suffi- 
cient to prove him a person of no ordinary merit. 
Yet St. Malachy was not altogether removed from 
the influence of prejudice. He had deeply imbibed 
those theories of unity which the energies of Pope 
Gregory VII. had been the principal means of 
spreading through the Church. With a strange 
inconsistency, he contributed to rescue his native 
Church from one system of subjection, and to bring 
it under another. Unlike the earlier divines of Ire- 
land, he felt no regard for any of their local customs 
and time-honoured traditions: and if they once erred 
in a too obstinate adherence to such traditions, his 
failing, on the other hand, lay in their unqualified 
condemnation. With him, whatever was not Roman 
was by consequence not catholic. 

There can be no question but that Malachy was 
influenced by the purest motives in his attempt to 
bring the Irish Church under the power of the popes. 
Without any doubt, he believed implicitly the doc- 
trine, then so general in the Church, that the bishop 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACflY. 115 

of Rome was the sole successor of St. Peter, the sole 
vicar of Christ, and that he alone held " the keys 
of the kingdom of Heaven." He perceived his own 
Church in a state of much confusion, while order and 
piety were on the side of Rome. Who, then, can be 
surprised that he should have adopted views appear- 
ing to promise many solid benefits, and enjoying the 
recommendation of men so learned and pious as the 
Bernards and the Anselms of the twelfth century ? 

By abandoning, however, the ancient theology 
of the Irish Church, St. Malachy lost a great oppor- 
tunity of vindicating the authority of the episcopal 
order against the injuries this theory eventually in- 
flicted upon it. Had he refused to be bound to 
Rome by any other ties than those ancient ones of 
a common faith and a tender affection, there is no 
saying what important consequences might not have 
been the result of his firmness. The natural ten- 
dency of the papal power was to concentrate all 
spiritual authority in the Roman pontiff, to diminish 
the power of local bishops, to encourage exemption 
from their just authority and influence. Most of the 
more recent religious orders disconnected themselves 
from the control of their own bishops, under the plea 
of being subject only to the pope. In a word, dis- 
orders too numerous to be mentioned have had their 
origin in this departure from the primitive ecclesias- 
tical constitution ; and to this cause also may be 
traced that unbridled licentiousness of modern times, 
which has so nearly overthrown the whole authority 



116 ST. MALACHY. 

of the Church. For when men had acquired the 
habit of undervaluing the sanction of their bishops, 
acting in independence of their authority, and, as 
was often the case, maligning their persons, it was 
an easy thing to advance one step further, and, in 
times of confusion, to throw off all restraint, and re- 
fuse submission to all rule. Many of these evils 
might have been averted or diminished had the firm- 
ness of Malachy enabled him to walk in " the old 
paths;" at least, he would have been a witness 
against the undue pretensions of the papacy. Few, 
perhaps, were more favourably circumstanced to 
render this service to the Church. His personal in- 
fluence was so great that he was able to direct the 
minds of his countrymen as he thought fit. He 
would not have the appearance of opposing an 
established power, for he found the Irish Church 
independent of the see of Rome ; and no necessity 
obliged him to solicit the papal interference. And 
it is a circumstance most worthy of observation, that 
all his reform, all his changes and improvements, 
had been effected before he made any application to 
the see of Rome for its sanction or countenance. 

But although one may regret that Malachy did 
not adopt some better course, it would ill become 
the present age to sit in judgment upon him. Mr. 
Coleridge has well observed, that " to speak gently 
of our forefathers, is at once piety and policy. Nor 
let it be forgotten, that only by making the detection 
of their errors the occasion of our own wisdom, do 



CH. XI.] ST. MALACHY. 117 

we acquire a right to censure them at all." So long 
as this remark remains true, the present time is not 
one that has anj^ right to be thus censorious. Self- 
opiniated, undisciplined, and proud, we should make 
but poor judges of the defects of our forefathers. 
If they were carried away by an unreal theory of 
catholic unity, too many of us are unacquainted 
with the true one; and until we have entirely re- 
moved our own ignorance, it would ill suit us to 
leave the rank of learners. 



118 ARRIVAL OF CARDINAL PaPARO. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ARRIVAL OF CAIiDINAL PAPARO SYNOD OF KELLS DER- 

MOD MAC-MURCHAD ENGLISH INVASION SYNOD OF 

CASHEL. 

But the papal power was not as yet formally recog- 
nised in Ireland. The palls had not been sent to 
the archbishops. Further delay, however, was to be 
avoided ; for the restless spirit of the Irish might as 
soon reject what before they consented to receive ■ — 
now that the master-mind, the guide of the whole 
movement, was no more. Accordingly, Eugenius 
despatched Cardinal Paparo to Ireland with the 
necessary instructions. The cardinal arrived to- 
wards the close of the year 1151. He spent six 
months in making himself acquainted with the con- 
dition and wants of the Church, and furthering his 
plans for the establishment of the Roman supremacy. 
At length he summoned a synod, which assembled 
at Kells, in the county of Meath, on the 9th of 
March, 1152. It was attended by a large number 
of the bishops and inferior clergy. The synod pass- 
ed canons against the crimes of usury and simony, 
which appear to have still afflicted the Church. The 
payment of tithes was regulated, and a new division 



CH. XII.] SYNOD OF KELLS. 119 

of the dioceses made out. To the two existing pro- 
vinces — Armagh and Cashel — two others were 
added, with equal metropolitan authority,^ Dublin 
and Tuam. Dublin was to rank next to Armagh, 
and its revenues were improved b}^ the confiscation 
of a part of the land belonging to the ancient bishop- 
ric at Glendaloch. It was the intention of Paparo, 
that, upon the death of the bishop of Glendaloch, the 
entire revenues should be transferred to Dublin, and 
the more ancient see suppressed. But in this respect 
his wishes were opposed by the Irish, who had a 
great regard for their " Holy Church in the moun- 
tains," as it was called. However, his plans were 
ultimately successful : for (it may not be out of 
place to mention here) the bishopric was at length 
sequestered in the reign of King Henry II., and 
the seven churches of Glendaloch allowed to fall to 
ruin.2 

Cardinal Paparo presented palls to each of the 
four archbishops. By his advice their respective 
provinces were made nearly commensurate with the 
civil division of the country — a very useful arrange- 
ment, inasmuch as it did not place under their super- 
intendence a more extensive territory than they could 
be reasonably expected to attend to. From this time 
a peculiar custom has obtained in the Irish Church. 
The archbishops are wont personally to visit their 

* Lanigan, vol. iv. p. 146. 

'•* See " A Letter concerning the Palls sent to Ireland," in 
Harris and Ware, Bps. at Glendaloch. 



120 SYNOD OF KELLS. 

respective suffragan dioceses in every third year. 
They meet the local bishops and clergy in the dif- 
ferent cathedral churches — inquire into the state 
of the various parishes — remedy abuses — and hear 
appeals. Their authority extends over the bishop as 
well as his clergy ; and, from the date of the issues 
of the summonses to attend the visitation, the suf- 
fragan bishop yields his jurisdiction for the time 
being to his superior, who institutes to any benefices 
that happen to fall vacant during the period of visi- 
tation, the bishop of the diocese presenting as if he 
were a lay patron. It is needless to observe upon 
the advantages liable to result from such a close epis- 
copal inspection, and on the service that such a sys- 
tem could render the Church, if effectually carried 
into practice, and made more than an empty form. 
The archbishop, the bishop, and the local clergy, 
constitute, in a manner, a provincial synod, where, 
by a slight alteration in the present mode of proceed- 
ing, every important matter relating to the welfare 
of the diocese might, with benefit, be made the sub- 
ject of careful deliberation. 

Cardinal Paparo having distributed the palls, 
and concluded his other business, dissolved the 
synod, and returned to Rome. The Irish clergy, 
left to themselves, continued to hold numerous pro- 
vincial synods, and to evince much anxiety to alter 
and improve the tone of their Church ; but while 
thus engaged, events were on the eve of occurrence 
that were to exercise an important influence upon 



CH. XII.] DERMOD MAC-MURCHAD. 121 

the condition of the country and the welfare of the 
Church — an influence which would have been ser- 
viceable to the progress of civilisatiouj and to the 
permanent interests of religion, had it not been 
marred by a cold and heartless policy. 

Dermod Mac-Murchad, prince of Leinster, W'as 
one of the most turbulent among the petty chieftains 
of Ireland. He was rapacious, cruel, and proud, and 
w^as naturally an object of dislike to those who were 
under his power. A quarrel betw^een this chieftain 
and Terence O'Ruarc, prince of BrefFny, was the 
primary cause of the English invasion. O'Ruare 
had a beautiful wife, named Dervorgal, for whom 
Dermod conceived an unlawful passion, which he 
gratified by carrying her off from her husband's 
roof, assisted, it is said, by the aid of her own 
brother. He joined O'Conor, prince of Connaught, 
in an attack upon the territory of Breffny ; and 
while the soldiers w^ere engaged in their usual 
w^ork of plunder, he succeeded in the abduction of 
the wretched woman. Dervorgal, however, w^as 
soon recovered by her husband, whose heart burned 
wdth an implacable desire to revenge the injuries 
he had sustained. He pursued Dermod for many 
years with various kinds of annoyance, always siding 
with his enemies ; until at last, upon the accession 
of Roderic O'Conor to the throne of Ireland, he 
had the satisfaction to aid that prince in driving 
Mac-Murchad out of Leinster, and placing another 
of his family in the government of the province. 

M 



122 DERMOD MAC-MURCHAD. 

It was now Dermod's turn to be goaded on by 
revenge. Desirous to regain possession of his lost 
territory, he applied for succour to some of his own 
tributary' chieftains; but they had felt his tyranny 
too long to be willing to aid him in the time of 
trouble. Accordingly, he determined to lay his 
grievances before the throne of Henry II. king of 
England, and to solicit his interference. With sixty 
followers, he arrived at Bristol; but, learning here 
that Henry was in Aquitaine, he made all haste to 
proceed to that country. Henry received him in 
Normandy with much courtesy, and listened atten- 
tively to his complaints ; but circumstances of a 
pressing nature prevented him from being able to 
be of any immediate use to Dermod. All he could 
do for him was to promise assistance at a future 
period ; and to give him a letter to some of his Eng- 
lish lords, authorising them to engage in the service 
of Mac-Murchad, if they should think fit. With this 
letter Dermod returned to England ; but it was some 
time before he could prevail on any of Henry's 
knights and barons to espouse his quarrel. They 
were not willing to engage in a cause that promised 
little honourable reward. But Dermod Mac-Murchad 
was so earnest in his entreaties, that he at last over- 
came their reluctance. By engaging to give him his 
daughter, Eva, in marriage, as well as to make him 
heir of his dominions, he prevailed on Richard 
Strongbow, earl of Chepstow and Pembroke, to pro- 
mise his assistance early in the ensuing spring. By 



CH. XII.] ENGLISH INVASION. 123 

similar promises of rich possessions, he engaged in 
his behalf Robert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, two Norman knights who had settled in 
Wales ; and being thus partially successful, he has- 
tened back to Ireland to prepare for the reception 
of his new allies. Some of these, headed by Robert 
Fitz-Stephen, arrived in Ireland in the month of 
May A.D. 1169, and were soon reinforced by fresh 
arrivals; but the army of Earl Strongbow, consist- 
ing of 1200 foot soldiers and 200 knights, did not 
land, owing to some unexpected delays, until the 
eve of the feast of St. Bartholomew in the year 
1170.1 

It does not form a part of the plan of this history 
to enter into the details of the English invasion. 
Sufficient it is to observe, that the success which 
attended the Norman arms was attributable, not 
more to their superior military skill than to the 
treacheries and jealousies that divided the Irish 
forces. Henry himself landed at Waterford in the 
year 1171. He appeared rather as a protector than 
an enemy of the Irish ; and most of the provincial 
chieftains in the south and east were glad to submit 
to his authority. While he remained in the country 
there were no battles fought — all was apparent 
tranquillity. The inferior princes seemed rather 
proud of submitting to one whom they delighted to 
call " the Son of the Empress," in allusion to the 

* Leland, Hist, of Ireland, vol. i. p. 14-23. 



124 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 

dignity of the Empress Matilda, his mother. The 
O'Nialls of Ulster, and Roderic O'Conor, the unfor- 
tunate monarch of Ireland, alone hesitated to acknow- 
ledge his authority; but Roderic was soon obliged 
to make a show of apparent submission, and to re- 
ceive the English king as his liege lord. 

While Henry continued in Ireland, he endea- 
voured to evince his anxiety for the welfare of the 
Church, as it was of the utmost importance to his 
interests that the clergy should appear as little as 
possible opposed to him. Accordingly, almost his 
first care was to convene a synod for the ostensible 
object of removing ecclesiastical abuses, but, in re- 
ality, to secure the allegiance of the clergy. The 
synod met at Cash el in the year 1172. It was at- 
tended by Laurence archbishop of Dublin, Catho- 
licus archbishop of Tuam, Donald archbishop of 
Cash el, and many of the bishops and inferior clergy. 
Gelasius archbishop of Armagh was not present. He 
pleaded as his excuse the infirmities of age; but 
the true cause of his non-attendance is to be found 
in the fact, that he belonged to the northern part of 
the island, where the English arms had not as yet 
penetrated, and where Henry's authority was still 
unrecognised. 

The acts of the synod of Cashel are only seven 
in number. The first directs that the faithful 
throughout Ireland do contract and observe lawful 
marriages, rejecting those with their relations, either 
by consanguinity or affinity. 



CH. XII.] SYNOD OF CASHEL. 125 

II. That infants be catechised before the door of 
the church, and baptised in the holy font in the bap- 
tismal churches. 

III.^ That all the faithful do pay the tithe of 
animals, corn, and other produce to the church of 
which they are parishioners. 

IV. That ail ecclesiastical lands and property 
connected with them be quite exempt from the ex- 
actions of all laymen. And, especially, that neither 
the petty kings nor counts, nor any powerful men in 
Ireland, nor their sons with their families, do exact, 
as was usual, victuals and hospitality, or entertain- 
ments, in the ecclesiastical districts, or presume to 
extort them by force ; and that the detestable food 
or contributions which used to be required four 
times in the year from the farms belonging to 
churches by the neighbouring counts, shall not be 
claimed any more. 

V. That in case of a murder committed by lay- 
men, and of their compounding for it with their 
enemies, clergymen, their relatives, are not to pay 
part of the fine (or erick), but that as they were 
not concerned in the perpetration of the murder, 
so they are to be exempted from the payment of 
money. 

VI. That all the faithful, lying in sickness, do, 
in the presence of their confessor and neighbours, 
make their will with due solemnity, dividing, in case 

^ See Appendix. 
M 2 



126 SYNOD OF CASHEL. 

they have wives and children, — excepting their debts 
and servants' wages, — their moveable goods into 
three parts, and bequeathing one for the children, 
and another for the lawful wife, and the third for the 
funeral obsequies. And if haply they have no law- 
ful progeny, let the goods be divided into two parts, 
between himself and his wife. And if his lawful wife 
be dead, let them be divided between himself and his 
children. 

VII. That to those who die with a good confes- 
sion, due respect be paid by means of masses and 
wakes and a decent burial. Likewise that all divine 
matters be henceforth conducted agreeably to the 
practices of the holy Church, according as observed 
by the Anglican Church. 

It is the latter clause of this last canon that 
would appear to be the most important of them all. 
By its provision, the Irish Church was henceforth to 
conform to the rites and ceremonies and usages of 
the Church in England. Gille of Limerick, it may be 
remembered, had attempted to introduce a change, 
in some respects similar, when he endeavoured to 
prevail on the clergy to adopt the Roman liturgies 
and customs to the exclusion of all that differed from 
them. He was unsuccessful, and neither Malachy 
nor Paparo were able afterwards to enforce such a 
general conformity. But from the date of this synod 
a great change passed upon the Church, the conse- 
quence of this canon. In those parts of the country 
where English laws and usages prevailed, — ■^. e. with- 



CH. XII.] SYNOD OF CASHEL. 127 

in the Pale (as the English part of Ireland was call- 
ed), — the Church was in a manner Anglicised: it 
lost much of its individuality, and became the Church 
of a party. This was, in part, the natural operation 
of the seventh canon of the synod of Cashel ; but it 
was also the result of circumstances which are yet to 
be noticed. 



128 SYNOD OF WATEEFORD. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SYNOD OF WATERFORD BULLS OF ADRIAN IV. AND ALEX- 
ANDER III LAURENCE o'tOOLE, ARCHBISHOP OF DUB- 
LIN. 

Nearly three years had elapsed since the synod 
of Cashel, when another was held, in 1174, at Wa- 
terford, by direction of King Henry. Nicholas 
abbot of Wallingford, and William Fitz-Adelm, 
presided as the representatives of the English mon- 
arch, and many of the bishops and clergy were 
present. 

At this synod two papal bulls were read confer- 
ring the sovereignty of Ireland upon Henry H. One 
of them was the celebrated bull of Pope Adrian IV., 
which had been in the possession of the English 
king since the year 1155, but which, from unknown 
reasons, he had kept secret until now. It has been 
asserted that the clergy were acquainted with the 
existence of this bull long before it was publicly 
made known; and that Henry had been privately 
practising with them, and successfully endeavouring 
to make them betray the liberties of their country.^ 

^ See Phelan's Policy of the Church of Rome in Ireland, 
chapter i. ** The connexion of Ireland (this author writes) 



CH. XIII.] THE BULL OF ADRIAN. J 29 

But this assertion appears to have been hazarded 
without sufficient authority. It is one of those un- 
founded and unfair insinuations against the integrity 
of the ancient clergy, in which it is so much the 
custom for modern writers to indulge. And it is 
entirely destitute of probability ; since the share that 
Henry II. had in the murder of St. Thomas Becket 
naturally rendered him obnoxious to the great body 
of the clergy throughout the entire western Church. 
He was, therefore, almost the last person with whom 
they would wish to have any dealings ; certainly he 
was not one whose favour and patronage they would 
court. 

The bull of Adrian commences with a compli- 
ment to the religious zeal by which it pretends that 
King Henry was actuated in his contemplated inva- 
sion of Ireland. " Full laudably and profitably hath 
your magnificence conceived the design of propagat- 
ing your glorious renown on earth, and completing 
your reward of eternal happiness in heaven : while 
as a catholic prince you are intent on enlarging the 
borders of the Church, teaching the truth of the 
Christian faith, exterminating the roots of vice from 
the field of the Lord, and for the more convenient 

with the crown of England originated in a compact between 
Henry Plantagenet, Pope Adrian the Fourth, and the Irish 
prelates of the day.'' Mr. Phelan had no authority for asso- 
ciating the Irish bishops with the papal schemes, except, in- 
deed, an equally groundless conjecture of Dr. Leland, Hist, 
vol. i. p. 10. 



130 THE BULL OF ADRIAN. 

execution of this purpose, requiring the counsel and 
favour of the apostolic see/' It then proceeds to 
lay down the doctrine that, '' without doubt, Ireland 
and all the islands on which Christ, the sun of 
righteousness, hath shone, and which have received 
the doctrines of the Christian faith, do belong to the 
(temporal) jurisdiction of St. Peter, and of the Holy 
Roman Church." This was the foundation on which 
the papal right to dispose of Ireland was made to 
rest. The sovereignty of the island was bestowed 
upon Henry, in order (as the bull goes on to say) 
that the borders of the Church might be extended, 
and a general reformation effected in the manners 
of the people and the state of religion. But Pope 
Adrian reserved for himself and successors the an- 
nual pension of one penny from every house, as a 
tribute to the chair of St. Peter ; and he covenanted 
with the king that the rights and liberties of the 
Church should remain sacred and inviolate for ever. 
In all other respects, he was to do whatever in his 
own judgment seemed most conducive to the honour 
of God, and the welfare of the land.^ 

This is the substance of the papal rescript, read 
by the representatives of Henry before the synod of 
Waterford. It was supported by a later bull from 

* The Bull of Adrian is printed in Ussher^s Sylloge, Ep. 
46 (Works, vol. iv. p. 546). It is translated in Leland's His- 
tory, vol. i. p. 8. Dr. Lanigan observes, that this bull is not 
to be found in the *' BuUarium Romanum,'' ''the editors of 
which,'* he says, '' were ashamed of it.'' 



CH. XIII.] THE BULL OF ADRIAN. 131 

Pope Alexander III., confirming his predecessor's 
disposal of Ireland in the following words : 

" Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of 
God, to his most dear son in Christ, the illustrious 
King of England, health and the apostolic benedic- 
tion. 

" Whereas the grants that are known to have been 
made for good reasons by our predecessors deserve 
to be ratified by a lasting confirmation ; we, walking 
in the footsteps of the venerable Pope Adrian, and 
regarding the fruit of our desires, do ratify and con- 
firm the said pontiff"s concession of the dominion of 
the kingdom of Ireland granted unto you — saving to 
St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church, as in England 
so also in Ireland, the annual pension of one penny 
from each house — so that the filthiness of that land 
being eradicated, a barbarous nation enrolled under 
a Christian name, may by your indulgence clothe 
itself with good morals, and the hitherto disorganised 
Church of those regions being reduced to good order, 
that nation through your instrumentality may hence- 
forth eff'ectually follow the name of the Christian 
profession/'^ 

The interference of Henry was solicited by one 
of the local chieftains, and his own subjects were 
rewarded for their assistance by large donations of 
land in that country. But he doubtless supposed 
that the promulgation of these bulls would tend 
greatly to confirm his newly acquired authority ; 
^ Ussher's Sylloge, Ep. 47. 



132 ADRIAN AND ALEXANDER. 

and this may have been the result, so far as the 
clergy were concerned. The decisive terms of these 
papal documents may have convinced them of the 
impossibility of making any effectual efforts to re- 
cover the civil independence of Ireland. Now that 
the Church was subject to the see of Rome, how 
could they oppose a cause that was espoused by the 
papal power ? They may, therefore, have seen that 
their true and only policy lay in endeavouring to 
secure the rights and liberties of the Church, and 
making the best possible terms for its permanent 
establishment. Every candid person, however, must 
lament the course pursued by Adrian^ and Alex- 
ander. It was heartless and mean policy, intended 
to conciliate King Henry at the sacrifice of justice 
and of truth. In particular, the manner in which 
Alexander speaks of the Irish Church was altogether 
unjustifiable, and he must have known it to have been 
so. For it was not very long since a legate from Rome 
— Cardinal Paparo — had visited Ireland, and made 
such reforms in the synod of Kells as he considered 
necessary. Had the Church been in the condition 
hinted at in the papal bull, the decrees of that synod 
would have reference to many other matters beside 
the arrangement of dioceses and the distribution of 

^ *'The love of his country (England), his wish to gratify 
Henry, and some other not very becoming reasons, prevailed 
over every other consideration, and the condescending pope, 
with great cheerfulness and alacrity, took upon himself to make 
over to Henry all Ireland." — Lanigan^ iv. p. 159. 



CH. XIII.] LAURENCE o'tOOLE. 133 

palls. And the same may be said with respect to 
the synod of Cashel, the only council held by Henry 
for his commissioned reformation of the Church ; the 
canons of which, already before the reader, relating 
as they do mostly to matters of inferior moment, lead 
one naturally to infer that the condition of the Church 
was not then much, if at all, worse in Ireland, than 
in other countries. It suited these popes, however, 
to think otherwise ; and, although we say it with 
regret, it is nevertheless an undeniable truth, that 
the bishops of Rome for a long period followed 
the example set to them by these their predeces- 
sors, and continued to use the Irish people as mere 
tools for the advancement of their own private 
ends. 

In the course they adopted towards the English 
invaders, the Irish clergy would appear to have been 
guided in a great measure by Laurence O'Toole, 
archbishop of Dublin, a man of much energy and 
decision of character. His father was head of the 
powerful clan of the O'Tooles of Wicklow; and on 
his mother's side he was connected with the equally 
noble race of the Byrnes in the same county. Edu- 
cated in the monastery of Glendaloch, he in time 
became its abbot, and was eventually elevated to 
the see of Dublin. His consecration took place at 
Christ Church, Dublin, ^ in the year 1162, in the 
presence of many of the bishops and people ; Gela- 

^ " In ipsa Dublinensi Ecclesia." Vita S. Laur. cap. x. 
Christ Church was at that time ** the Church of Dublin." 
N 



134 LAURENCE o'tOOLE. 

sius, archbishop of Armagh, being the prelate who 
administered that sacred rite. 

Carrying along with him, to his episcopal see, 
his habitual attachment to a monastic life, almost 
the first act of Laurence, after his consecration, was 
to change the canons secular of Christ Church Ca- 
thedral into regular canons of the order of Aroasia. 
Laurence himself joined the order, adopting its 
habit, and conforming to its rule. As frequently as 
his other duties would allow, he would take his 
meals in the refectory with the brethren, observe 
silence at the proper places and hours, and celebrate 
with them the various religious offices of the day. 
Sometimes also he would retire to Glendaloch for a 
few days, to enjoy a stricter seclusion, and to prac- 
tise additional severities. 

But these religious duties were soon interrupted 
by the troubles of the times, in which Laurence 
bore a conspicuous part. During the first confusion 
of the English invasion, he acted to the Irish some- 
times as their adviser, and sometimes almost as their 
general. But he more frequently appeared in the 
character of mediator between the contending par- 
ties ; and such were his abilities and sagacity, that 
he was not less respected by the English than rever- 
enced by his own countrymen. He appears to have 
submitted to the authority of Henry without any 
remonstrance, since he was among the bishops that 
attended the synod of Cashel, summoned by the 
English king ; and there is likewise reason to believe 



CH. XIII.] LAURENCE o'tOOLE. 135 

that he was present at the synod of Waterford. The 
signature of Laurence is attached as a witness to a 
treaty of peace between Henry and Roderic the Irish 
monarch, which he himself was the chief instrument 
in bringing about. 

Yet Henry entertained strong suspicions of the 
sincerity and good faith of the archbishop; and 
Laurence has been accused, perhaps not unjustly, 
of playing a double game. In the year 1175 he at- 
tended the third Lateran council, along with some 
other Irish prelates. Here he is said to have 
launched out into great abuse of the king, and to 
have given an exaggerated account of the evils he 
had inflicted upon Ireland. He also at that time ob- 
tained for his see many temporal grants and immu- 
nities which should not have been conceded without 
the permission of Henry. And what makes this 
conduct the more unbecoming is the circumstance 
of his having taken an oath, before leaving Ireland, 
not to do any thing at the council to the prejudice 
of the king's authority. Henry was so much dis- 
pleased at the course the archbishop pursued, that 
he refused to see him, when, a few years after his 
return from Rome, he was sent into England to 
compose a quarrel which had broken out afresh be- 
tween Roderic and the English monarch. Lau- 
rence was urgent in his entreaties to be admitted 
into the royal presence; but the king was inexor- 
able. Having at this time occasion to pass over 
into Normandy, Henry gave orders that Laurence 



136 LAURENCE o'tOOLE. 

should be detained in England, and not permitted 
to return to his own country. The archbishop, how- 
ever, followed the king to France, but had scarcely 
landed in Normandy, when he was seized with a 
fever, which carried him off on Friday, the Mth 
of November, in the year 1180. He was canon- 
ised in the Church of Rome by Pope Honorius III. 
A.D. 1225.1 

' The life of Laurence is published in Messingham^s Flo- 
rilegium, p. 379. It was written by a monk of Augum. 



CII. XIV.] JOHN CUMIN. 137 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JOHN CUMIN, FIRST ENGLISH ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN 

ENGLISHMEN PROMOTED TO IRISH DIGNITIES — SYNOD OF 
DUBLIN — ITS ACTS — CONSEaUENCES OF THE ENGLISH 
INVASION — REMARKS ON THE POLICY ADOPTED TOWARDS 
THE IRISH. 

Laurence was succeeded in the see of Dublin by 
John Cumin, an Englishman, who was consecrated 
in the year 1182 by Pope Lucius IIL, being the 
first prelate of the Irish Church that ever received 
episcopal orders immediately from the papal chair. 
The custom thus introduced, of promoting natives 
of England to the higher ecclesiastical offices in Ire- 
land, has ever since continued. In the see of Dublin 
alone no Irishman occupied the archiepiscopal chair 
during the long period intervening between the years 
1182 and 1663 ; and it is also worthy of remark, 
that until the sixteenth century the occupants of this 
see, with very few exceptions, received their ordina- 
tion directly either from England or from Rome. 
Political reasons were pleaded for thus filling the Irish 
sees with strangers to the customs and the feelings 
of the Church ; but, notwithstanding some apparent 
advantages, the practice has inflicted much injury 
upon the permanent interests of religion. In the first 
n2 



138 ENGLISHMEN IN IRISH DIGNITIES. 

place, it introduced, in the times now under review, 
a feeling of jealousy between the clergy of English 
and Irish race, by no means beneficial to the cause 
of piety. Besides, the English clergy too often came 
to Ireland with prepossessions against the people, 
their manners, and habits; and, in a later age, the 
practice acted as a great discouragement to learning. 
The Church, which in most other countries has its 
highest dignities open to men of learning and piety, 
however humble in their origin, has been generally 
closed in Ireland against all who are not recommended 
by family connexions, private friendship, or political 
services. The system of advancing Englishmen to 
Irish dignities was of course extremely obnoxious to 
the clergy of Ireland. They regarded it both as unfair 
and unjust. In the reign of King Henry III. an effort 
was made to resist the influx of these strange clergy. 
A violent decree was passed, that no man of the Eng- 
lish nation should be admitted or received into a 
canonicate in any one of the Irish churches.^ And 
in the year 1421, among certain articles exhibited 
against Richard O'Hedien, archbishop of Cashel, in 
a parliament held at Dublin, it was complained of 
him — " that he was kind to the Irish, and loved no 
Englishman, and that he neither himself gave, nor 
suffered any other bishop to give, a benefice to a 
native of England."^ These bold efforts, however, 
were successfully opposed by the popes of Rome, 

^ Leland, i. p. 235. ^ Ware's Bps. at Cashel. 



CH. XIV.] SYNOD OF DUBLIN. 139 

who were in the habit of promoting both English- 
men and foreigners in the Irish Church. 

While we lament the abuses to which this prac- 
tice gave rise, it is but just, however, to remark 
(and we do so with thankfulness), that some of the 
greatest benefactors to the Church in Ireland were 
natives of England.^ Indeed, these observations are 
chiefly made because it is most important that per- 
sons who are in the habit of looking upon the party- 
system that has so long obtained in the Irish Church 
as the natural result of certain religious changes in 
the sixteenth century, may be led to perceive, that 
although it has been more fully developed since that 
period, yet it took its rise at a time when the Irish 
Church was entirely under the influence of Rome. 

John Cumin was an active and zealous bishop, 
whose exertions greatly improved the condition of 
the entire province under his administration. In the 
year 1186, he held a very important provincial synod 
in Dublin, which was numerously attended by his 
clergy. The synod met in the Cathedral of Christ 
Church, Dublin. If any reliance can be placed on 
the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis (a Welsh priest 
who accompanied King John to Ireland, and wrote 
an exaggerated account of the evils of the country 
in that tune), the proceedings of the synod were dis- 
graced by the breaking-out of the mutual jealousies 

* Especially since the 16tli century. The names of Bram- 
hall, Bedell, Marsh, &c. will suggest themselves at once to the 
reader. 



140 SYNOD OF DUBLIN. 

that existed between the English and Irish clergy. 
On the first day of their meeting, the archbishop 
preached upon the sacraments. He was followed 
the next morning by Albin O'Mulloy, abbot of Bal- 
tinglassj and afterwards bishop of Ferns, who, in the 
course of his sermon, drew a comparison between 
the continence of the English and Irish clergy, of 
course most favourable to the character of the latter. 
He ascribed any irregularities that had crept in 
among them altogether to the influence and evil 
example of the clergy from England. This naturally 
aroused the indignation of the other party. A dis- 
graceful scene ensued, in which the foreign clergy 
— as they were called — are represented as charging 
each other with gross incontinence, while the Irish 
stood by mocking and insulting them. One good, 
however, resulted from this confusion. As soon as 
the archbishop learned the truth of the charges ad- 
vanced against his clergy, he immediately suspended 
from their offices in the Church those who were con- 
victed of maintaining concubines. On the third day 
of the convention, Giraldus Cambrensis (or Girald 
Barry, as he is otherwise called) delivered a dis- 
course, in which he endeavoured to retaliate upon 
the former preacher, by bringing forward many 
equally grave charges against the clergy of Ireland. 
His most serious accusation is one of drunkenness. 
But if his admission be true, — that in other respects 
the native clergy spent a pure and chaste life, at- 
tending diligently to their Psalms and hours, and 



CH. XIV.] ITS ACTS. 141 

practising due abstinence and frugality in their diet,^ 
— his charge of drunkenness can scarcely be well 
founded ; at all events, it must be a great exag- 
geration of the facts. 

Notwithstanding this confusion, the synod enacted 
many canons, whose principal object was to secure 
a more reverent celebration of the sacraments, and 
of other divine offices. According to the first of 
these canons, priests were prohibited from celebrat- 
ing mass on a wooden table, as had hitherto been 
usual in Ireland.- In their place stone altars were 
to be erected in all monasteries and baptismal 
churches ; and where it was impossi])le that the 
entire altar should be made of stone, it was directed 
that a square and polished piece of stone be fixed in 
the midst of the altar, broad enough to contain five 
crosses and the largest chalice. It was next enacted, 
that the covering of the Holy Mysteries was to be 
spread over the whole upper part of the altar, which 
was itself to be covered by a cloth, whole and clean. 
Monasteries and rich churches were to be provided 
with gold and silver chalices : where these could not 
be afforded, clean pewter ones were deemed suffi- 
cient. The Host, which represents — says the synod 
— the Lamb without spot, the Alpha and Omega, 

^ Giraldus Camb. de Rebus, &c., p. 2, cap. xiv. quoted 
by Lanigan, iv. p. 267. 

2 This must be received with some limitation; for it is cer- 
tain that there were numerous churches in Ireland, as ancient 
as the sixth and seventh centuries, which had stone altars. 



142 ACTS OF THE SYNOD OF DUBLIN. 

was to be made so pure and white, that the partakers 
thereof may thereby understand the purifying and 
feeding of their souls rather than their bodies. The 
wine in the sacrament was to be so tempered with 
water as not to be deprived either of the natural 
taste or colour. All vestments and coverings be- 
longing to the church were to be clean, white, and 
fine. A lavatory of stone or wood was to be erected 
in each church, and so contrived with a hollow, 
that whatever was poured into it should pass through 
and lodge in the earth. An immovable font was to 
be fixed in the middle of every baptismal church, 
or in such other part of it as the paschal procession 
might conveniently pass round. It was to be made 
of stone, or of wood lined with lead for cleanness, 
wide and large above, bored through to the bottom, 
and so contrived, that after the ceremony of bap- 
tism was ended, a secret pipe might convey the 
consecrated element down to the earth. The cover- 
ings of the altar, and other vestments dedicated to 
God, when injured by age, were to be burnt within 
the enclosure of the church, and the ashes of them 
transmitted through the secret pipe of the font, to 
be buried in the ground. 

Vessels that were used in baptism were never 
afterwards to be applied to the common uses of man. 
No person, under pain of an anathema, was to bury 
in a churchyard, unless he could prove, by some 
authentic document, or undeniable evidence, that it 
was consecrated by a bishop, not only as a sanctuary 



CH. XIV.] ACTS OF THE SYNOD OF DUBLIN. 143 

or place of refuge, but likewise as a place of sepul- 
ture ; and no laymen should presume to bury their 
dead in any consecrated place without the presence 
of a priest. The divine offices were not to be cele- 
brated in any private chapel built by laymen to the 
detriment of the parish church. 

The thirteenth canon of this synod sets forth, that 
w^hereas the clergy of Ireland, among other virtues, 
have always been remarkable for their pure lives, 
and that it would be disgraceful if they should be 
corrupted by the contagion of strangers, and the evil 
example of a few incontinent men ; the archbishop 
therefore ordains, under the penalty of losing both 
office and benefice, that no priest, deacon, or sub- 
deacon, should keep any woman in his house, either 
under the pretence of necessary service, or any 
other colour whatsoever; unless a mother, a sister, 
or one whose age should remove all suspicion of 
any unlawful commerce. 

The synod then proceeds to condemn the crime 
of simony, the penalty of which was the loss of office 
and benefice. If any clergyman should accept an 
ecclesiastical benefice from a lay hand, unless after 
a third monition he renounce that possession, he 
was to be for ever deprived of the said benefice. A 
bishop was not to ordain the inhabitant of another 
diocese without the commendatory letters of his 
proper bishop or the archdeacon. And no one was 
to be promoted to holy orders without a certain title 
of a benefice assigned to him. Two holy orders 



144 ACTS OF THE SYNOD OF DUBLIN. 

were not to be conferred on one person on the same 
day. All persons living in fornication should be 
compelled to celebrate a lawful marriage ; nor should 
one born in fornication be promoted to holy orders, 
or be esteemed heir to either father or mother, 
unless his parents were afterwards united in lawful 
matrimony. 

The next subject to engage the consideration of 
the synod was tithes. They w^ere to be paid to the 
mother church out of provisions, hay, the young 
of animals, flax, wool, gardens, orchards, and out of 
all that grows and renews yearly, under pain of an 
anathema, after the third monition. Those who con- 
tinued obstinately to refuse payment were to be 
compelled to pay more punctually for the future. 

The synod ended its proceedings by enacting, 
that all archers and others, who carry arms for the 
sake of plunder and sordid lucre, and not for the 
defence of the people, should be excommunicated 
every Lord's day by bell, book, and candle, and, 
after their death, refused Christian burial.^ 

Some would be disposed to condemn many of 
these canons as frivolous, and to censure the sacred 
synod for wasting its time in making enactments 
so unimportant in their nature. But such a con- 
demnation would be in the highest degree unjust. 
Whatever were the faults of that age, a want of 

^ Harris and Ware, Bps. at Dublin. Harris copied these 
canons from a mutilated manuscript in the possession of the 
dean and chapter of Christ Church, Dublin. 



CH. XIV.] SIMONY. 145 

reverence was not among the number. Every thing 
connected with the service of God, the smallest no 
less than the greatest, was considered to be sacred, 
and treated as such. Nothing that had any rela- 
tion to the worship of God, or that tended to ex- 
hibit it with the grandeur and propriety befitting 
the Christian religion, was thought unimportant, and 
beneath the attention of the clergy. In the midst 
of many grave errors, it w^as at least a laudable 
aim to avoid a slovenly and careless celebration of 
the divine offices of religion; and in this respect 
the clergy of those times could teach the present 
age an useful lesson. They saw — what too many 
amongst us overlook — that if a nation is to be 
taught an habitual reverence for religion, its external 
ordinances are not to be treated with even an ap- 
pearance of disrespect. All must be conducted with 
the utmost decorum and solemnity ; and no means 
disregarded that may generate in the minds of the 
people an inward sense of its secret and true ma- 
jesty. 

As mention was made of simony in this and other 
synods of the times, it may be w ell to observe, that 
many acts were looked upon as a part of this crime, 
which the present age usually regards as innocent 
and lawful. The reader of general ecclesiastical his- 
tory doubtless remembers the controversy respect- 
ing investiture, that, from the eleventh century, so 
greatly agitated Europe, It was the aim of the 
principal divines engaged in that dispute to eman- 
o 



146 SIMONY. 

cipate the Church from the domination and tyranny 
of the secular power, and to render the spiritual 
kingdom independent of civil control. They found 
the Church in a hapless state of degradation, illiterate 
and irrehgious men pushed into the highest offices, 
and owing their elevation to the cupidity of the laity. 
Their efforts succeeded in introducing a better state 
of things, and in rescuing religion from the worst of 
all practical disorders ; but they erred in attempting 
to convert the Church into a temporal, as well as 
spiritual, kingdom, supported as much by the terrors 
of the civil sword as by the proper sanctions of re- 
ligion. In a word, they fell into the mistake of 
framing a bond of union other than that which Di- 
vine Providence had ordained. 

The Irish bishops, from the time of Malachy, 
were gradually imbibing such principles, which, after 
the invasion, were diffused more extensively by the 
English clergy promoted in Ireland. These had all 
been trained in the most exalted views of spiritual 
independence, which were rendered still more sacred 
to them by the death of St. Thomas Becket. They 
carried out their opinions in Ireland with the greater 
freedom, inasmuch as they were removed from the 
immediate inspection of the English government, 
while the provincial rulers were generally too weak 
to contend with the united strength of the Anglo- 
Irish ecclesiastics. There can, indeed, be no doubt 
that they pushed their views and measures to an 
extreme length ; yet so anomalous was the con- 



CH. XIV.] SLAVERY IX IRELAND. 147 

dition of the Irish Church during these times — sus- 
pected by the native Irish themselves, and of course 
always liable to be injured by professing friends — 
that we are not perhaps sufficient judges of the 
necessity for what appears to be an over-strictness 
and excessive pretension. At least, since the fault 
of modern times is so much in an opposite direction, 
and since the crime of simony is so little a subject of 
practical apprehension at present, it is better for us 
to remain silent, and not to condemn. 

The English invasion appears to have put a stop 
to a practice that prevailed in Ireland for a long 
time. Shortly after the arrival of the first invaders, 
a general synod of the Irish clergy was held at Ar- 
magh, " in which, after much deliberation concern- 
ing the arrival of the foreigners in Ireland, it was 
unanimously declared that this misfortune was a 
judgment of God on account of the sins of the 
people, and particularly because they used to buy 
English persons from merchants, robbers, and pirates, 
and reduce them to slavery; and hence it would 
appear that they, in their turn, were to be enslaved 
by the same nation. For the English people, during 
the integrity of their kingdom,^ were, through a com- 
mon vice of the nation, accustomed to expose their 
children for sale, and, even before they were in any 
want or distress, to sell their own sons and relatives 
to the Irish. It might therefore be probably sup- 
posed that the purchasers deserved the yoke of 

^ L e. before the Xorman conquest. 



148 ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 

slavery, for this enormous crime, in the same manner 
as the sellers had been already treated (after the 
Norman conquest of England). It was consequently 
decreed, and unanimously ordered by the synod, 
that all the English throughout Ireland, who might 
happen to be in a state of slavery, should be restored 
to their original liberty."^ 

The English made great alterations in the state 
of architecture in Ireland, llievery ancient Irish 
churches were not. distinguished by much oTartistic 
grandgnr. Some of them W5rFiTCtfk.o£v^^ in 

general they were small stone edifices, with a low 
narrow doorway, constructed in a square form, with 
large massive stones. Their usual size was sixty feet, 
and they rarely exceeded eighty : but there was one 
exception to this rule, the ancient cathedral of 
Armagh, which was one hundred and forty feet 
in length. Mr. Petrie has observed, that " these 
churches in their general form preserve very nearly 
that of the Roman basilica, and they are even called 
by this name in the oldest writers ; but they never 
present the couched semicircular absis at the east end, 
which is so usual a feature in the Roman churches, 
and the smaller churches are only simple oblong 
quadrangles. In addition to this quadrangle, the 

* I have here given Dr. Lanigan's translation of the original 
narrative, in Giraldus Camb. (Hist. Exp. 1. i. cap. 13), which 
I have not at present by me. How far the custom prevailed 
amongst the English of exposing their children for sale, I am 
unable to say. Giraldus states the fact, but very probably 
exaggerates it, as he was usually in the habit of doing. 



CH. XIV.] ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 149 

larger churches present a second oblong of smaller 
dimensions, extending to the east, and constituting 
the chancel or sanctuary, in \\hich the altar was 
placed, and which is connected with the nave by a 
triumphal arch of semicircular form. These churches 
have rarely more than a single entrance, which is 
placed in the centre of the west end ; and they are 
very imperfectly lighted by small windows splaying 
inwards, which do not appear to have been ever 
glazed. The chancel is always better lighted than 
the nave, and usually has two, and sometimes three, 
windows, of which one is always placed in the 
centre of the east wall, and another in the south 
wall ; the windows in the nave are also usually 
placed in the south wall, and, excepting in the 
larger churches, rarely exceed two in number. 
The windows are frequently triangular-headed, but 
more usually arched semicircularly ; while the door- 
way, on the contrary, is almost universally covered 
by a horizontal lintel, consisting of a single stone. 
In all cases the sides of the doorways and win- 
dows incline, like the doorways in the oldest re- 
mains of Cyclopean buildings, to which they bear 
a singularly striking resemblance. The doorways 
seldom present any architectural decorations be- 
yond a mere flat architrave, or baud, but are 
most usually plain ; and the windows still more 
rarely exhibit ornaments of any kind. The walls 
of these churches are always perpendicular, and 
generally formed of very large polygonal stones, 
0^2 



150 ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 

carefully adjusted to each other, both on the inner 
and outer faces, while their interior is filled up with 
rubble and grouting. In the smaller churches the 
roofs were frequently formed of stone, but in the 
larger ones were always of wood, covered with 
shingle, straw, reeds, and perhaps sometimes with 
lead. It is remarkable that no churches appear 
to have been anciently erected in Ireland, either 
of the circular, the octagonal, or the cross form, 
although churches of the last form were erected in 
England at a very early period." Adjacent to 
many of these ancient churches are still to be seen 
those remarkable round towers, concerning the uses 
of which the learned were for a long time in doubt ; 
but Mr. Petrie has shewn satisfactorily that they 
were designed for belfries, and were occasionally 
used as keeps and v/atch-towers, into which the eccle- 
siastics could easily retire in times of danger and 
disturbance. 

Although the ancient churches of Ireland in 
general were plain and without ornament, yet it must 
not be supposed that they were all devoid of archi- 
tectural splendour ; on the contrary, it has been re- 
cently demonstrated, from the remains of the ancient 
churches at Glendaloch, Cashel, and elsewhere, that 
there existed in Ireland a beautiful and elaborate 
style of architecture, differing in many respects from 
the Norman style, and which can lay claim to a 
higher antiquity. There still remain many ancient 
churches and round towers, whose ornamental deco- 



CH. XIV.] ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 151 

rations prove that the noble science of architecture 
was not unknown to our early forefathers.^ 

But after the arrival of the English, the ancient 
Irish architecture gave place to that which is tech- 
nically termed Gothic. Cathedrals and monasteries 
in the Gothic style sprang up throughout the land, 
and Irish and English lords vied with each other in 
munificent donations to the Church. John de Cour- 
cey, earl of Ulster, was one of the most liberal in 
his gifts. In the year 1177? he made an incursion 
into the northern parts of Ireland, and, with the 
assistance of twenty-two knights and three hundred 
soldiers, gained possession of ample territories in the 
county of Down. A large proportion of his ac- 
quired possessions he conferred upon the Church. 
In the year 1180, he founded the Abbey of Inis- 
Courcey,^ upon the ruins, it is supposed, of a former 
monastery. It was erected for Cistercian monks, 
and to compensate for the Benedictine Abbey of 
Erynagh,^ which he had destroyed in one of his 
battles. The monastery of Inis-Courcey was sup- 
plied with English monks from Furness, in Lanca- 

^ Mr. Petrie's '' Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland," 
has been published after these pages were placed in the printer's 
hands. The perusal of Mr. Petrie's '' Essay" will amply re- 
pay all who are interested in this subject. It is the result of 
many years patient labour and careful research. 

^ At Inch, in the county of Down. 

^ In the barony of Lecale, county of Do^ti. See Lanigan, 
iv. p. 249. 



152 HEMARKS ON THE POLICY 

shire. In the same year he erected another Bene- 
dictine monastery, in the barony of the Ardes, in 
the same county. It was called the Black Priory of 
St. Andrew de Stokes. Africa, the wife of de Cour- 
cey, was the founder of the beautiful monastery of 
Grey Abbey, the ruins of which are still in a fine 
state of preservation. The Cistercian Abbey of 
Holy Cross, in Tipperary, perhaps the most splendid 
in Ireland, owed its erection to Donald O'Brian, 
king of North Munster, Even Dermod MacMur- 
chad, the traitorous prince of Leinster, distinguished 
himself by many monastic foundations in Dublin 
and in Ferns. 

It had been well for the future prosperity of Ire- 
land, had there been as great improvement in the 
social condition of the people as in the outward ap- 
pearance of the Church. But, unhappily, this was 
not so. The English did much for the welfare of 
the country in many ways, and especially by the 
establishment of corporations, and the opening of a 
small trade in the towns in their own possession ; 
but a good deal more could have been effected, had 
a sounder policy actuated the heads of their party. 
The circumstances attending the first arrival of the 
English were infelicitous. They settled in the country 
as adventurers, having obtained a certain proportion 
of land as the reward of services rendered to a native 
chieftain. Unwilling to sever themselves from con- 
nexion with their own country, they claimed the 
protection of the English laws, but did not think of 



en. XIV.] ADOPTED TOWARDS IRELAND. 153 

extending them to the Irish in such a form as might 
recommend them to their judgment, while not un- 
necessarily offending their cherished prejudices. The 
English laws afforded better protection to life and 
property than those of Ireland, and the Irish were 
themselves soon sensible of this. Bat there was also 
much in the political constitution of Ireland pecu- 
liarly suited to the requirements of the people. Had 
there arisen, then, any one great mind, who, per- 
ceiving this, would have attempted to unite the Irish 
and English races under a common constitution, 
composed alike of all that was beneficial in the Irish 
laws, and adapted to the wants of the people in the 
English — had the language of the country been 
encouraged, and not discountenanced — there would 
no doubt have been feuds and disorders for a time ; 
but, in the end, many long ages of sorrow and con- 
fusion might have been prevented ; the evils that 
afflicted Ireland before the twelfth century would in 
all likelihood have been corrected, and a basis of 
prosperity established more firm than it had ever 
known before. 

No such comprehensive mind, however, arose ; 
consequently the most impolitic course imaginable 
was pursued towards the natives. The admitted 
benefits of the English laws were dealt out with 
a most sparing hand even to the Irish tribes that 
submitted themselves to the crown of England. 
Sometimes they were altogether denied them. Of 
this an instance occurs in the reign of King Ed- 



154 REMARKS ON THE POLICY 

ward I., too remarkable to be passed by without 
notice. Some of the Irish clans, broken in spirits 
and in strength by repeated defeats, petitioned the 
lord' deputy to be admitted to the protection of the 
English law. They offered to pay a fine of 8000 
marks for the benefits to be conceded them. King 
Edward was willing to grant the prayer of their peti- 
tion, provided the general consent of the prelates 
and nobles of the land could be obtained to the 
measure. But this was not so easily secured. Two 
parliaments were summoned to take the petition into 
particular consideration. The proposal, however, 
was either totally rejected, or means were found to 
evade it, by those who wished to perpetuate the 
misery of these wretched people.^ 

It was possible, however, for individuals to pur- 
chase the protection and benefits of English law by 
the payment of some heavy fine : but even this was 
earned at the sacrifice of many endeared prejudices. 
Native customs had to be renounced altogether — 
native ties of relationship severed — and the language 
of the country abjured. The experience to be learned 

* See this stated more at large in Leland, i. p. 242, &c. 
Mr. Phelan, without any foundation whatever, asserts that the 
petition of the Irish clans was frustrated through the machina- 
tions of the bishops. He says, *' The bishops defeated the good 
intentions of the king, and closed their ears to the groans of 
their countrymen.'^ [Remains, vol.ii. p. 86.) Such false and 
unjust charges must ever do the greatest injury to any cause, 
however righteous it may be in itself. 



CH. XIV.] ADOPTED TOWARDS IRELAND. 155 

from history will surely teach us, that it is too much 
to expect from any people that they should unani- 
mously give up all that every nation holds to be 
most dear. The Irish clung to their mother-tongue 
and the customs of their forefathers with stronger 
affection than to life itself; and, had a wise ruler 
undertaken to direct these feelings into a proper 
course, he might have employed that tenacious re- 
gard for their own institutions as the very means of 
effecting a sound reformation in their social state, 
and uniting them to Britain in the bonds of peace 
and prosperity. Would that the first settlers had 
reflected, that it is easier to overcome prejudices by 
indulgence than to conquer them by opposition !^ 

This political blunder operated injuriously upon 
the interests of the Church. The same policy which 
shut out the " mere Irish" (as the natives were called) 
from the advantages of the English constitution, pre- 
cluded them also from the protection of the Church. 
It was narrowed, and became in a great degree the 
Church of a party .^ Suited as it was by its sacred 

^ Upon this -whole subject, Mr. Phelan's ** Policy of the 
Church of Rome in Ireland " (chiefly the Introduction) 
might be read with advantage. The work contains some im- 
portant remarks ; but I would not have it understood that I 
agree with the view the writer takes of the conduct of the 
Romanised clergy in the twelfth and following centuries. He 
gives an exaggerated and unfair account of their political 
course, and the motives that actuated them, building his con- 
clusions upon most insufficient authorities. 

2 See before, Chapter XII. p. 127. 



156 REMARKS ON THE POLICT 

character to compose the dissensions of the opposing 
factions, and to unite them all in one, the proper ad- 
vantage was not taken of its inherent power. It was, 
unfortunately, arrayed against the people, instead 
of being employed to win them over to the side of 
peace and quiet. In general, the bishops and higher 
clergy were as much opposed to " the mere Irish" as 
the temporal power. Their voice was never raised 
against the policy which it suited the Anglo-Irish 
lords to pursue towards the weaker party. During 
the reign of King Edward III. many of the bishops 
attended a parliament held at Kilkenny, in the year 
1367? in which the most unwise laws were enacted 
against the customs and natives of Ireland. Amongst 
others, it was decreed, that no marriages should be 
contracted between the English and Irish. If any 
of the English race should use an Irish name, or the 
Irish language, he was to be attainted and his goods 
forfeited. It was also ordained that the Irish should 
not be admitted into any cathedral or collegiate 
church, nor to a benefice of holy Church amongst 
the English of the land ; and that if such admission 
took place, the benefice was to be held void, and the 
presentation to revert to the king. It was likewise 
established, that no religious house, situate amongst 
the English, should henceforth receive Irishmen to 
their profession ; if any acted contrary to this in- 
junction, they should be attainted, and their tempo- 
ralities seized into the hands of the king, to remain 
at his pleasure ; and that no prelate of the Church 



CH. XIV.] ADOPTED TOWARDS IRELAND. 157 

should receive any Irishman into holy orders without 
the assent and testimony of the king given to him 
under his seal.^ 

In accordance vrith this policy, it became usual 
for the provincial synods to be held between the 
Anglo-Irish clergy alone; and in the acts of their 
proceedings, they were described as celebrated inter 
Anglicos, ''between the English." And as a further 
illustration of this same policy, it may be noticed 
that there was a regulation in St. Patrick's Cathedral 
to this eifect, — that no native Irishman should be 
admitted to any of its preferments ; a regulation 
which, so late as the year 1515, was confirmed by 
Pope Leo X. in the following decisive terms : " Like- 
wise it is agreed, that the custom anciently observed 
of not admitting the Irish by birth, manners, and 
blood, into the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, 
prevail and always continue to be in force, any 
royal dispensation notwithstanding ; and that upon 
this point inquiry be made with the utmost dili- 
gence, as well by the archbishop as by the dean and 
chapter." 2 

It would not be necessary to say so much about 
a political system, the remnants of which are quickly- 
dying away from amongst us, were not a clear ac- 
quaintance with this subject absolutely necessary in 

* See the Statute of Kilkenny, edited for the Irish Archaeo- 
logical Society by Mr. Hardiman. 

2 See the Preface to the '* Book of Obits of Christ Church/^ 
p. xxxiv., note. 

P 



158 ANGLO-IRISH POLICY 

order to understand the peculiar religious difficulties 
that at the present day afflict Ireland and the Church. 
We find, that from the era of the EngUsh inva- 
sion there have existed two distinct races in the 
country, for a long period openly hostile to each 
other. It was (as we have seen) the policy of the 
dominant party to discountenance the Irish in every 
possible manner, to exclude them from all civil and 
ecclesiastical posts of trust, and to withhold from 
them the common blessings of civilisation. This 
policy was sanctioned by the court of Rome, so that 
the Irish Church of the twelfth century could not 
perhaps avoid being infected by it. The two ruling 
powers of the Irish Church were the King of Eng- 
land and the Bishop of Rome ; and, by the united 
exertions of these potentates, it was for a long series 
of years made almost as much a part of the English 
Church as if it had no separate existence. But 
when the great revolution of the sixteenth century 
occurred, the interests of these two powers diverged, 
and the Church of the Pale adhered to the throne of 
England ; while the court of Rome, together with 
those who were dissatisfied with the religious changes 
then made, were obliged to fall back upon the na- 
tive Irish, whom, up to this time, all had agreed in 
repudiating and maltreating. The court of England, 
drawing the Church along with it, preserved still 
the old policy of the pale, instead of applying itself 
to rectify the great political blunders of the first 
invaders. But there can be little doubt that as 



CH. XIV.] ADOPTED TOWARDS IRELAND. 159 

civilisation and good feeling, and the true principles 
of the Church, gained ground, these mistaken views 
would long since have yielded to a sounder policy, 
except for the intervention of unhappy political cir- 
cumstances.^ 

^ The revolution of 1688 has injured the Irish Church 
in every possible manner ; but in no respect more than by 
increasing that bitter political feeling between the two races 
which otherwise would undoubtedly have died away. The 
Orange principles, since so popular amongst a portion of the 
Church, have tended, more perhaps than any thing else, to per- 
petuate that unjust policy which has so long retarded the hap- 
piness of the Irish people. It is manifestly unfair to charge 
the injurious consequences of these principles upon the Church 
itself (as is sometimes done), because they do not properly 
belong to it. They are extraneous to it, and plainly subversive 
of its authority and influence. 



160 CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF RELIGION. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF RELIGION — LIBERALITY OF 
THE BISHOPS — UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH AN 
UNIVERSITY — RICHARD FITZ-RALPH ABUSE OF EXCOM- 
MUNICATION — INDULGENCES TEMPORAL POWER OF THE 

POPES — CONCLUSION. 

The declension of religion, so much the character- 
istic of the Irish Church in the twelfth century and 
following ages, is not altogether to be attributed 
to the English invasion. The semi-barbarism of 
the preceding period, the rude habits of the Irish 
chieftains, the injuries suffered by the Church 
from the Danish wars, the corruption of religion — 
all these causes contributed to the decay of ancient 
fervour and piety. The wars of the English un- 
doubtedly increased the evil ; bat especially the im- 
politic course adopted towards the Irish natives ; 
which, excluding them from the advantages of civi- 
lisation, drove them to live as best they could, amid 
the wilds and woods of their country. In fact, 
every cause conspired to bring about a state of 
things almost too painful for contemplation ; in 
which the people became the most miserable and 
wretched that perhaps was to be found in any part 
of Europe. Still, however, there were bright lights 
in the midst of this dark firmament. Among the 



CH. XV.] LIBERALITY OF THE BISHOPS. 161 

clergy especially, there arose, as we shall see, here 
and there, men servmg God to the best of their 
ability, and shedding a lustre over their age by the 
learning that distinguished them. In one view, the 
bishops of these times particularly deserve our re- 
spect. The wealth which they derived from their 
sees they did not usually expend on themselves or 
their relatives ; but looked upon it as the property 
of the Church, entrusted to their guardianship for its 
use. Of course there were some who were guided 
by a very different rule; mean, irreligious men, who 
ground their clergy hard, using every method to 
extort money, in order to bestow it on unworthy 
objects. But such persons formed the exception, 
rather than the rule. In the bishops, in general, 
the poor found their best and often (excepting the 
monks) their only benefactors ; they alone attempted 
to revive learning ; and it is principally to their 
munificence and liberality that the existing cathe- 
drals and ancient churches of Ireland are indebted 
for their preservation to the present time. 

Of the liberality of the bishops in these respects 
abundant proof is to be found in the annals of the 
three following centuries, and it may not be unin- 
structive to lay a few examples before the reader. 

The cathedral of Limerick received many bene- 
factions from Hubert de Burgo, who was appointed 
bishop of that see in the year 1223. It was also 
repaired and beautified at great expense by Eusta- 
chius del Ewe, who was promoted from the deanery 
p2 



162 LIBERALITY OF THE BISHOPS. 

of Limerick to the bishopric of the same see in the 
year 1311. 

Of Thomas Cranely, archbishop of Dublin in 
the year 1398, it is recorded that "he was a very 
bountiful man, and full of alms-deeds, a profound 
clerk and doctor of divinity, an extraordinary fine 
preacher, and a great builder and improver of places 
under his care." It is, in like manner, said of John 
O'Grady, archbishop of Cashel in 1345, that he was 
"a man of sound discretion and industry, and en- 
dowed his church with numerous gifts." 

In the diocese of Ossory, Hugh Mapilton (who 
was advanced to that bishopric in the year 1251) 
is recorded to have builded an episcopal residence 
for himself and his successors, and was engaged in 
making additions to the cathedral of St. Canice, 
at Kilkenny, when he was overtaken by death. 
This see owed much to the munificence of its pre- 
lates : Geoffrey St. Leger, its bishop in 1 260, com- 
pleted the buildings which his predecessor Mapil- 
ton had left unfinished. He was also a benefactor 
to the vicars choral, who were founded by him. 
Michael, a native of Exeter, and bishop of Ossory 
in 1289, "is much commended," says the chroni- 
cler, " for his liberality to the canons of his church." 
" And another Englishman named John of Tatenale, 
or by some called John of Oxford, who was raised 
to this see in 1370, is said to have released to the 
vicars choral all procurations due to the see, by 
right of ordinary visitation, except only a yearly 



CH. XV.] LIBERALITY OF THE BISHOPS. 163 

payment of six shillings and eightpence, with this 
condition, that under the penalty of ten shillings for 
omission, they should celebrate the anniversary of 
his death." 

These examples might be greatly multiplied from 
the annals of almost every bishopric in Ireland.^ 
There are those, indeed, who would look upon any 
such appropriations of wealth as a misapplication of 
God's gifts; but the reign of so cold and calcu- 
lating a spirit, we trust, is nearly at its end, and the 
time arrived, when the effort to provide for the wor- 
ship of God in a manner least unworthy of His hoi}" 
name shall be esteemed a privilege, no less than a 
duty. At all events, it is impossible to give a fair 
picture of the Church, during the thirteenth and fol- 
lowing centuries, without taking so remarkable a 
feature into consideration ; whatever else were the 
faults of the bishops in those ages, this liberal care 
of their diocesan churches must hold a place among 
their better qualities ; and if, in determining the re- 
ligious character of those times, we refuse to allow 

^ It may not be uninteresting to notice here, that, during 
the episcopate of John Folan, about the year 148 9, the citizens 
of Limerick are recorded to have repaired the body of their 
cathedral, which was going to decay. In like manner, a fire 
having destroyed a part of Dublin in the year 1283, and having 
injured, among other buildings, the cathedral of Christ Church, 
" the citizens of Dublin, before they went about to repak their 
own private houses, agreed together to make a collection for 
repairing the ruins of that ancient church." See Ware's 
Annals, ad An. 



164 LIBERALITY OF THE BISHOPS. 

this public spirit — for so it may be called — its just 
and proper weight, our decision must necessarily be 
one-sided and unfair. 

But this liberality was not entirely restricted to 
the episcopal order. Many of the other dignified 
clergy are recorded as benefactors to the cathedral 
canons, the monastic houses, and the poor. In par- 
ticular, it deserves to be mentioned in this place, 
that John Aleyn, dean of St. Patrick's, who died in 
the year 1505,^ before his death founded an hos- 
pital in St. Kevin's Street, Dublin, for sick and poor 
people, to be chosen principally from families bear- 
ing his own and some other surnames specified in 
the deed of foundation, to whom he assigned lands 
for their maintenance. A site for the erection of 
the hospital was granted by Walter Fitz-Symons, 
archbishop of Dublin. It is, how^ever, worthy of 
observation, that, by the will of the founder, the 
benefits of this hospital were confined to members 
of the English nation,'^ 

It could not be expected that the cause of lite- 
rature should find much patronage in a country 
plunged as Ireland then was into all the distractions 
of civil warfare. The times were infelicitous, and 
the clergy were too much exposed to annoyance 
from the never-ceasing feuds between the English 
and Irish, to allow them to walk in the quiet paths 
of learning, even if they had desired to do so. Yet 

1 Ware's Annals in An. 

" Book of Obits, Pref. p. xxxiv., note. 



CH. XV.] EFFORTS TO FORM A UNIVERSITY. 165 

we read occasionally of bishops and others " renown- 
ed for their learning ;" and laudable exertions were 
made on more than one occasion to prevent the 
dying embers of literature from becoming totally 
extinguished. 

The first effort to establish an university in Ire- 
land was made by John Lech, an Englishman, who 
was advanced to the see of Dublin by King Edward 
II., in the year 1310. He procured in 1313, from 
Pope Clement V., a bull for the foundation of an 
university of scholars at Dublin ; but he had not 
time to carry his plans into operation, his death 
occurring in the August of the same year. Alex- 
ander de Bicknor, his successor in the archbishopric, 
renewed the foundation. He connected the univer- 
sity with Ste Patrick's Cathedral, and procured a 
confirmation of it from Pope John XXII. Its first 
chancellor was William Rodiart, dean of St. Pa- 
trick's, who was made a doctor of the canon law at 
the same time that the degree of doctor in divinity 
was conferred upon three others. A divinity lec- 
tureship was established in it by King Edward III. ; 
but; unfortunately, all the chroniclers agree in as- 
serting, that ''the maintenance of scholars failing, 
the university by degrees came to nothing." The 
failure of this scheme for the education of the coun- 
try would appear to have arisen from some other 
causes than the apathy of the clerical body ; for in 
a provincial synod held at Christ Church during the 
reign of Henry VII., before Walter Fitz-Symons, 



166 UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS 

archbishop of Dublin, all the bishops and clergy of 
the province of Dublin consented to tax themselves 
for its support, and to pay certain stipends towards 
the maintenance of the readers of the university. 

The parliament held at Drogheda, in the year 
1465, made a further attempt to establish an uni- 
versity in Ireland. In the statute of foundation it 
set forth, that ^' at the request of the Commons, be- 
cause there is no university nor general study in Ire- 
land, vrhich is a work that would advance know- 
ledge, riches, and good government, and also pre- 
vent riot, ill government, and extortion in the said 
land, it is ordained, established, and granted, by the 
authority of the said parliament, that there be an 
university in the town of Drogheda, wherein there 
may be made bachelors, masters, and doctors in 
every science and faculty, in like manner as they are 
in the University of Oxford ; which may also have, 
occupy, and enjoy all manner of liberties, privileges, 
&c. that the said University of Oxford doth occupy 
and enjoy.'' All these provisions were excellent, 
so far as they went ; but the parliament strangely 
omitted to supply means either for the erection of 
the university, or the support of the scholars. The 
natural consequence of so important an omission 
was the failure of a scheme that otherwise might 
have proved successful. For we learn from various 
sources that there was no lack of scholars ready to 
avail themselves of the means of education ; on 
the contrary, there is evidence to prove that many 



CH. XV.] TO ESTABLISH AN UNIVERSITY. 167 

sought in England the instruction they had no op- 
portunity of acquiring at home; and that, too, at a 
period when numerous difficulties and impediments 
obstructed the intercourse between the people of 
the two countries. In a parliament held in the 
reign of Henry IV., a.d. 1410, it was enacted that 
every one desirous of visiting England or any other 
country, to learn the laws of the Church of this land 
(i, e. Ireland), should in the first instance come be- 
fore the chancellor and apply for leave of absence 
from him.^ And another parliament, held in the 
year 1475, allowed the sum of six marks yearly, 
from the tithes of a parish near Dublin, to be ap- 
propriated to the use of one James Maddock, who 
was studying at the University of Oxford,^ — the 
grant to be continued " until the said James should 
be promoted to a competent benefice." The reason 
assigned in the act for sanctioning the grant is both 
curious and important — ''forasmuch as there are but 
feiv in this land who are able to teach or preach the 
word of GodT 

But we must not omit honourable mention of 
perhaps the most distinguished of the very few 
learned divines of whom Ireland could boast from 
the tw^elfth to the sixteenth century. Richard Fitz- 

' See the Statute of Kilkenny, edited by Mr. Hardiman, 
p. 129. 

2 The tithes of the parish had been voluntarily resigned by 
the incumbent for this purpose ; and the parliament was asked 
to sanction the proceeding. See the act in the Appendix. 



168 RICHARD FITZ-RALPH. 

Ralph, according to the best accounts, was a native 
of Dundalk, in the county of Louth ; but received 
his education in England, where he became Chan- 
cellor (or Vice-Chancellor) of the University of Ox- 
ford in the year 13S3, and was afterwards made 
Dean of Lichfield. Pope Clement VL advanced 
him to the see of Armagh, to which he was con- 
secrated in 134^7, by John de Grandison, bishop of 
Exeter, assisted by three other English prelates. He 
was a learned and assiduous preacher, and has left 
among his writings a volume of sermons, preached 
partly in his own diocese, and partly in England and 
elsewhere. Anxious to improve the education of 
his clergy, he is said to have sent three or four of 
them into England, to study theology at Oxford. A 
foolish story is told of their having returned back 
into Ireland because they could not find a Bible for 
sale at the University? As if this sacred volume 
could possibly be so rare in a place where numbers 
must have spent the greater part of their time in 
making transcripts of portions of it. 

Richard Fitz-Ralph had the misfortune to engage 
in an angry controversy with the Dominicans and 
Franciscans, who came into Ireland shortly after the 
original institution of their respective orders. They 
soon spread over the whole country, and became in 
a short time so popular as to gain possession of 
numerous abbeys and churches, to which the people 

1 Lewis's History of Translations of the Bible, quoted in 
the Bp, of Down's History of Ireland, p. 37. 



CH. XV.] RICHARD FITZ-RALPH. 169 

(as in other parts of Europe) resorted, in preference 
to their parish-churches. In fact, the mendicant 
orders in Ireland, as well as elsewhere, weakened in 
a considerable degree the influence of the secular 
clergy with the people, and deprived them of their 
congregations : so that it is no matter of surprise 
to find the secular priests almost unanimous in their 
dislike of these popular intruders. 

The fundamental rule of all the mendicant orders^ 
was the same, namely, that of absolute poverty. 
They were to act strictly upon the most literal con- 
struction of those words of our blessed Lord : " Pro- 
vide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 
nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither 
shoes, nor yet staves : for the workman is worthy of 
his hire.''2 Accordingly, it was the original inten- 
tion of their founders that the members of their 
respective orders should live upon the alms of the 
people, or beg in the different cities and villages 
through which they passed. Yet this intention was 
before long departed from ; and by a forced inter- 
pretation of their rules, the mendicant orders were 
allowed to become possessed of as much wealth and 

* There were four monastic orders who made profession of 
absolute poverty and of mendicancy : the Dominicans, or 
preaching friars, founded by St. Dominic ; the Franciscans, 
or Minorites, whose founder was St. Francis ; the Carmelites, 
an order transplanted into the Western Church from Palestine ; 
and the Augustinian Eremites, established by Pope Alex- 
ander IV. 

2 St. Matt. X. 9, 10. 

Q 



170 RICHARD FITZ-RALPH. 

property as any of the other monastic establish- 
ments. 

Richard Fitz-Ralph opposed the obligation to 
poverty, by the pretence of which these begging 
friars had succeeded in gaining the popular sym- 
pathy. In a series of sermons, preached at St. 
Paul's Cross in London, he maintained amongst 
others, the following conclusions : that our blessed 
Lord, although poor on earth, yet loved not poverty 
for its own sake : that He Himself neither begged 
nor taught others to do so, but, on the contrary, 
directed them not to beg : that no man can, either 
with prudence or piety, bind himself to a vow of 
perpetual poverty ; and that those who come to 
confession should prefer the parish-church to the 
friar's oratory, and the parish-priest to the mendi- 
cant friar. 

The boldness with which he advanced opinions 
so much opposed to their own interests, aroused the 
indignation both of the Dominicans and Franciscans, 
who procured him to be summoned to Avignon, 
where the Roman pontiff then resided. Fitz-Ralph 
obeyed the summons, and defended his views man- 
fully before the pope and Roman court. He was 
detained in France for three years, and died there 
before the termination of his suit. His death oc- 
curred on the 14th of November, 1360. His re- 
mains were subsequently removed to Ireland, and 
deposited in the church of Dundalk.^ 

^ See Ware's Bishops at Armagh, and Irish Writers. 



CH. XV.] ABUSE OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 171 

Notwithstanding the energj^ learning, and bold- 
ness that characterised Fitz-Ralph, and some others 
of the Irish clergy, corruptions were continually 
gaining ground. Among these, none is so much 
to be deplored as the fearful abuse of the powers 
of excommunication. Sometimes for political pur- 
poses, sometimes to avenge private wrongs, the 
bishops did not hesitate to misapply the autho- 
rity committed to them for the edification of the 
Church ; and by a reckless abuse of ecclesiastical 
censures, in the end brought this sacred part of 
Christian discipline into disrepute and contempt 
among the laity. The obnoxious '' Statute of Kil- 
kenny," passed in the year 1367? and so full of 
unjust enactments against the native Irish, ^ was not 
only ratified by the secular authority of the lords 
spiritual and temporal, but was also doubly con- 
firmed by the solemn promulgation of an anathema 
against the unfortunate people, who could scarcely 
be expected to submit to its provisions. Dr. Leland 
likewise informs us, that in all the indentures of the 
Irish, executed on their submission to the chief go- 
vernor, there is an express provision, that in case of 
any violation of their compact, they will submit to the 
excommunication of the Church. The Irish bishops, 
continues the same writer, situated at a distance 
from the seat of government, were not always ready 
to denounce this formidable sentence against their 
countrymen. To force their compliance with the 
1 See before, Chap. XIV. p. 154. 



172 ABUSE OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 

directions of the civil power, Tiptoft, earl of Wor- 
cester, lord deputy of Ireland in the reign of Ed- 
ward IV., convened a parliament at Dublin in the 
year 1467? at which he procured the following or- 
dinance to be enacted : 

'' Whereas, our holy Adrian, pope of Rome, 
was seised of all the seignory of Ireland in right of 
his Church ; and whereas, for a certain rent, he 
alienated the said seignory to the king of England 
and his heirs for ever, by which grant the subjects of 
Ireland owe their obedience to the king of England 
as their sovereign lord ; it is therefore ordained 
that all archbishops and bishops of Ireland shall, 
upon the monition of forty days, proceed to the ex- 
communication of all disobedient subjects ; and if 
such archbishops or bishops be remiss in doing 
their duties in the premises, they shall forfeit one 
hundred pounds."^ Thus the spiritual powers of 
the Church were degraded almost to the level of 
a civil penalty for violating an act of parliament ! 
Nothing can more clearly shew the evil conse- 
quences of the sort of connexion then subsisting 
between the Irish Church and Rome. In the very 
worst times of state-control over the ecclesiastical 
body, no such unlawful demand has been ever made 
upon the Church's rulers ; nor could such an act 
have been passed, even at that period, if the Irish 
lord deputy had not felt assured that he could de- 

* See Leland, vol. ii. p. 56. This act is printed in full in 
Mr. Hardiman's *' Statute of Kilkenny," p. 3, note. 



CH. XV.] ABUSE OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 173 

pend on the co-operation of the papal court. It was 
because Ireland was a fief of the holy see that he cal- 
led upon the bishops to affright the enemies of the 
civil power by the terrors of their spiritual sword. 

One of the most remarkable instances of abuse 
of this spiritual power occurred in the reign of 
King Edward III. It was agreed in a parliament 
held at Kilkenny in the year 1346, to grant a cer- 
tain subsidy for the support of the Anglo-Irish 
forces. This grant (which extended to ecclesias- 
tical persons and the tenants of ecclesiastical lands) 
was not agreeable to Ralph Kelly, archbishop of 
Cashel, who resolved to oppose it by every means 
in his power. Accordingly, he summoned his suf- 
fragans of Limerick, Emly, and Lismore, and, with 
their concurrence, issued an ordinance that all 
beneficed clergymen who should presume to pay 
their allotted portion of this subsidy, were to be 
immediately deprived of their benefices, and ren- 
dered incapable of holding any ecclesiastical prefer- 
ment within the province ; and that all lay tenants 
on the ecclesiastical lands who should comply with 
the requisition of parliament, were to be excom- 
municated, and their children disqualified from 
enjoying any ecclesiastical benefice, even to the 
third generation. Nor did this edict satisfy the 
archbishop. He repaired to the town of Clonmel, 
and there publicly and solemnly denounced the 
sentence of excommunication upon all those who 
paid, imposed, procured, or in any manner contri- 

q2 



174 ABUSE OF EXCOMMUNICATION. 

buted to the exacting of this subsidy from any of 
the persons or lands belonging to his church ; and 
on William Epworth, by name, the king's commis- 
sioner in the county of Tipperary, for receiving it 
from the several collectors. An information was 
exhibited against the prelate for this offence. He 
denied the charge ; he pleaded, that by the great 
charter granted by the crown to England and Ire- 
land, it was provided that the Church in both coun- 
tries should be free ; that by the same charter it 
was ordained, that those who infringed the im- 
munities of the Church should be ipso facto excom- 
municated ; and that he had but exercised his 
spiritual power against such as had violated the 
king's peace, or levied money on the subject with- 
out his knowledge and assent. Both the archbishop 
and his suffragans, however, were found guilty ; but 
though they repeatedly refused to appear in arrest 
of judgment, they seem to have been too powerful, 
and their cause too popular, for the offence to re- 
ceive its due punishment. This appears to have 
been a case of wanton opposition to the civil autho- 
rities, in which the sacred powers of the Church 
were employed to encourage resistance to a lawful 
demand, and to embarrass the government of the 
country. 

It was likewise usual with the bishops to revenge 
the plunder of ecclesiastical property, or the inva- 
sion of any of the rights of the Church, by denoun- 
cing an anathema against the offenders. Without 



CH. XV.] IXDULGEXCES. 175 

doubt, such persons deserved to be punished; and 
if the bishops did not act with vigour and severity, 
the Church would have been exposed to their con- 
tinual assaults. Yet it is to be feared that the 
slightest provocation was sufficient to call down the 
extreme censures of religion ; and one cannot but 
regret, that in cases affecting only the temporalities 
of the Church, some other mode of punishment was 
not devised. At least, it would have been better to 
suffer the loss of earthly goods, and to leave the 
plunderer to the judgment of Another Tribunal, than, 
by the constant use of the awful power of excom- 
munication, to run the risk of bringing it into con- 
tempt, and teaching men not to fear it. It is the 
misfortune of the present age that the powers and 
discipline of the Church are suffered to remain (as 
it were) in abeyance : who will say that this is not 
a judgment upon us for the reckless manner in 
which they were formerly abused and weakened ? 

But the penitential discipline of the Church re- 
ceived another injury from the course that was pur- 
sued with respect to indulgences. In the primitive 
ages every bishop had power to shorten the term of 
penance imposed on any sinner, if he perceived his 
repentance to be genuine and sincere. This was 
called an indulgence ; and it was absolutely neces- 
sary for the bishop to possess such a discretionary 
power, since the course of penitential discipline in 
the Church used then to extend over many years. 
In an after-period, it became a very common cus- 



176 INDULGENCES. 

torn to grant these indulgences upon the slightest 
occasion : if the popes were in want of money, or 
if a bishop wished to build a church, or repair an 
altar, or enrich an abbey. Thus a method was in- 
vented of evading the last remnants of the ancient 
Catholic discipline. The nature of an indulgence 
was changed. It was no longer the remission of 
penance, in consequence of the sincere and assured 
repentance of the penitent ; but it was a bribe held 
out to every sinner, promising him a false pardon 
upon the easiest terms. Nor was it only for the 
purpose of satisfying the consciences of those who 
continued in sin, yet feared its consequences, that 
indulgences were used. They were too often pros- 
tituted to the purposes of private revenge ; and the 
discipline of the Church became, in unworthy hands, 
an engine of oppression and a weapon of tyranny; for 
example, in 1442, we read, that John Prene, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, being highly incensed against the 
dean and chapter of Raphoe, and having deprived 
them of their benefices, granted, moreover, forty 
days' indulgence to all who should fall upon their 
persons, and seize or dissipate their substance.^ 

^ M. Fleury notices the same abuse as prevalent in other 
parts of the Church. ** It is true (he says) that the number of 
indulgences, and the facility of obtaining them, was a great 
obstacle to the zeal of the most enlightened confessors. It was 
difficult to persuade a sinner to make use of fasts and dis- 
cipline when he could buy them off by a slight alms, or a visit 
to a church. For the bishops of the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries granted indulgences to the performance of all sorts 



CH. XV.] TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 177 

The Roman bishops uniformly manifested a 
bitter spirit of hostility against the Irish Church 
and people. The bull of Pope Adrian commis- 
sioned King Henry II. " to teach the truth of 
the Christian faith to the ignorant and rude," 
meaning the Irish clergy and people, '' to exter- 
minate the roots of vice from the field of the 
Lord," " to reduce the people to obedience unto 
laws," " to restrain the progress of vice, correct 
manners, plant virtue, and increase religion." The 
rescript of Alexander III. speaks in the harshest 
language, of " the filthiness of that land," and terms 
the Irish people "a barbarous nation enrolled under 
a Christian name, destitute of good morals, and 
whose Church was totally disorganised." The same 
feeling existed in the breasts of all the subsequent 
Roman pontiffs ; who manifested it by taking part 
against the Irish upon every occasion, and by never 
making the smallest exertion for the alleviation of 
their miser j\ Had the popes so willed, it would not 
have been difficult for them to have improved the 
state of Ireland, and rendered the condition of the 

of pious works — such as the building of a church, the keeping 
in repair an hospital; indeedj any public work — such as 
a bridge, a footpath, a public road. These indulgences, in 
truth, were but a part of penance ; but if men joined several 
together, they might buy it off altogether. It is such indul- 
gences that the fourth Lateran council calls indiscreet and 
superfluous, which render the keys of the Church despicable, 
and weaken the satisfaction of penance." — Qua&ieme Discours 
sur VHistoire Ecclesiastique. 



178 TEMPORAL rOWER OF THE POPES. 

people more happy and contented. But they never 
raised a voice either to advise the adoption of a 
milder policy, or to remonstrate ^vith those who 
maltreated them. And for this they are altogether 
without excuse ; inasmuch as the bishops of Rome 
claimed to be the temporal sovereigns of the coun- 
try. Ireland was their inheritance — so they said — 
but it was one concerning whose welfare and happi- 
ness they appear to have had no care. 

In a former chapter^ it was stated that the 
popes not only encouraged the appointment of 
Englishmen to the ecclesiastical benefices, but also 
themselves occasionally promoted foreigners. " At- 
tempts were made," writes Dr. Leland, " to over- 
spread the kingdom with Italian ecclesiastics. The 
boldest remonstrances were made to the king against 
this scandalous abuse of investing proud and luxu- 
rious foreigners with the dignities and revenues of 
the Irish Church, who contemptuously refused to 
engage in the duties of their function, or to reside 
in the country which they pillaged by their ex- 
tortions. The complaint appeared so just and 
urgent, that the king (Henry III.) was obliged to 
interpose his authority, and by letter to his chief 
governor, directed that the pope's agents should 
not only be prevented from extorting money from 
the ecclesiastics, but from making such shameful 
dispositions of their benefices."^ 

Another attempt was made to circumscribe the 

1 XIV. p. 139. 2 Leland, vol. i. p. 233. 



CH. XV.] CONCLUSION. 179 

power of the popes in the year 14-75. While William 
Sherwood, bishop of Meath, was lord deputy of 
Ireland, he held a parliament in Dublin, at which it 
was declared high treason to bring bulls or rescripts 
from Rome. And the acts of this assembly were 
never repealed. It may here also be mentioned, 
as an illustration of the Anglo-Irish policy, that 
this same parliament gave permission to any of the 
English who suffered loss frdm an Irishman not 
amenable to the law, to take reprisals for the injury 
upon the whole sept or nation.^ 

Such was the political and religious condition of 
Ireland during all this period. It was truly deserv- 
ing of commiseration. The natives of the same 
land, who were intended to live together in peace and 
quietness, were divided into two opposing parties, 
entertaining for each other the deepest enmity, and 
always plunged in civil warfare. These dissensions 
were carried even into matters of religion. The 
Church was not the home of all the people ; for a 
large section were excluded from the shelter of its 
monastic houses and from its pastoral employments, 
except at a sacrifice too dear to be generally made. 

We have thus endeavoured shortly to describe 
the state into which the Irish Church had gradually 
fallen. It is painful to mark the progress of decay ; 
and in this instance the pain is increased by the 
contrast between these dark days of secularity and 
the holy zeal of other times. The nursery of so 

^ Ware's Annals in An. 



180 CONCLUSION. 

many missionaries saw her own children (in a man- 
ner) abandoned by those who should have been 
their guides. The seat of so many schools, once 
the resort of other nations, had no university in 
which to train up her own youth. In the very 
neighbourhood of those monasteries, so remarkable 
for ascetic piety, the indiscreet use of ecclesiastical 
censures was making discipline nothing but an 
empty name ; and few in the land of St. Patrick 
and St. Colum-cille " were able to teach or preach 
the word of God." 

Such were the miserable effects of abusing spi- 
ritual influence to secular objects. From the day 
that spiritual weapons were employed for the pur- 
pose of abetting political schemes, and the catholic 
spirit of the Church narrowed to party-purposes, 
evils took their rise which have not yet come to a 
termination. The unhappy divisions which have 
existed so long — the estrangement of those who 
should have knelt before a common Altar — may in 
a measure be regarded as the result of this unhal- 
lowed policy. Alas ! the seed has borne its fruit 
only too abundantly ; and what will the end be ? 
Let us not grow faint in earnest prayer and fasting, 
in humiliation for our sins and the sins of our fore- 
fathers, and it may yet please God to satisfy the 
yearnings of so many hearts, and to make us once 
again even as " a city that is at unity with itself." 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 



CoLGAN, in his Trias Thaumaturga (Lovan. 1647), has 
published seven tracts on the life of St. Patrick. The 
first is an ancient metrical life, written in the Irish 
language, and ascribed to Fiech, bishop of Sletty, and 
one of Patrick^s earliest disciples. There is internal 
evidence, however, to make us doubt that Fiech is its 
author, although unquestionably it is of great antiquity. 
The three next accounts, which he terms vita 2da, 
vita 3tia, vita 4ta, are not of very great value, though 
probably translations from the Irish. Vita 5ta, sup- 
posed to have been written by Probus, a monk of the 
tenth century, is much valued by Dr. Lanigan. Vita 
6ta is Jocelyn^s life of the saint. It was drawn up in 
the 12th century, according to Colgan in the year 1185 ; 
and although valuable on account of many topographical 
allusions, contains nevertheless a monstrous collection 
of legendary fables. Vita 7ta — to which Colgan gives 
the name of ^^ Tripartita,^^ because it is divided into 
three parts — is in many respects an important work, 
although disfigured, like Jocelyn's, by fabulous stories. 
The Tripartite was originally written partly in Irish, 
and partly in Latin, but is published by Colgan alto- 
gether in the Latin tongue. The authorship of at least 
a portion of it is attributed to St. Evin, who lived in the 
sixth century. 



182 APPENDIX. 

Besides the lives of St. Patrick published by Col- 
gan, a few others are extant in ms. There is a very- 
ancient one, written in the Irish language, in the Leah- 
harBreac; and another, in the same tongue, in the Book 
of Lismore : both mss. of some antiquity, in the library 
of the Koyal Irish Academy. They are not entirely the 
same, though drawn from the same source, but differ 
more or less in matters of local detail. The ^^life'^ 
preserved in the Leahhar Breac is the more ancient 
and the more valuable of the two. Tirechan^s ^^Annota- 
tions on the Life of St. Patrick,^' a Latin tract in Irish 
characters, is extant in the Book of Armagh, a valuable 
MS. of the seventh century, in the possession of the Rev. 
Mr. Brownlow of Dublin. Sir William Betham has 
published the text of Tirechan, with a translation, in 
his " Irish Antiquarian Researches.'^ 



No. II. 



As it is generally believed that St. Patrick was or- 
dained a bishop by Pope Celestine, I think it desirable to 
state the authority on which I have founded my asser- 
tion in pages 8, 9, that he was consecrated by a Gallican 
prelate. Jocelyn's Life of St. Patrick, and the Tripar- 
tite, are the principal authorities for the more common 
opinion ; but the other is far better supported. Col- 
gan's Vita 2da, Vita 3tia, Vita 4ta, and Vita 5ta, relate 
that Patrick was consecrated by a bishop named Ama- 
tor, or Amathorex. The scholiast on the Life by Fiech 
(n. 14, p. 5) says that this Amator was bishop of Aux- 
erre: but both Ussher and Colgan object, that if Patrick 
were consecrated by him, he would have been a bishop 



APPENDIX. 183 

before his own master, St. Germain, which was not pro- 
bable. However, the agreement of these four tracts and 
the scholiast on Eiech, in the opinion that he was raised 
to the episcopal order by a Gallican bishop, forms a 
strong presumption in favour of its correctness. And 
this amounts almost to certainty when the testimony 
of the ancient life in the Leabhar Breac is taken into 
consideration. This tract, without mentioning any 
name, states that '' Patrick then set out for the suc- 
cessor of Peter. He went to a noble person on the way, 
who conferred the dignity of bishop on him.'^ It is 
this testimony that I have followed. Dr. Lanigan (vol. 
i. p. 198) is also of opinion that he was consecrated by 
a bishop of Gaul. However, the ms. life of St. Patrick 
in the Book of Lismore agrees with Jocelyn and the 
Tripartite ; and hence it is probable their statement 
has been taken. The " life^^ in the Book of Lismore 
relates that " Patrick then went to Rome, from Ger- 
manus, and received the dignity of bishop from the suc- 
cessor of Peter, Celestinus, who sent him into Ireland." 



No. HI. 



'' Here he resolved to pass the night, and accord- 
ingly his companions lighted a fire, most probably to 
prepare their food.'' — Pp. 11, 1*2. 

The published lives of St. Patrick notice this fire as 
a " paschal, or divine, or sacred fire,'' forming a part of 
the ceremonies of Easter-eve. But was there any cere- 
mony in the Church, of which lighting ^^a sacred fire" 
formed a part ? Perhaps there was some reference to the 
eastern practice of burning torches or candles upon the 



184 APPENDIX. 

paschal eve. According to Bingham (vol. vii. p. 234), 
" Eusebius says — ^In the time of Constantine, this vigil 
was kept with great pomp : for he set up lofty pillars 
of wax, to burn as torches^ all over the city, and lamps 
burning in all places, so that the night seemed to out- 
shine the sun at noonday.^ Nazianzen also speaks of 
this custom of setting up lamps and torches both in the 
churches and their own private houses ; which he says 
they did as a prodromus, or ' forerunner/ of that great 
light, the Sun of righteousness, arising on the world on 
Easter-day .'' 

Although it is not impossible that St. Patrick may 
have introduced some such custom as this, yet I am in- 
clined to believe that the fire he is said to have ignited 
on Easter-eve had no connexion whatever with any 
religious ceremony. It is probable that the phrase 
'' ignis paschalis" originated in some confused transla- 
tion of the following Irish version of the circumstance 
as recorded in the Life of St. Patrick preserved in the 
Leahhar Breac, 

"Then Patrick,^^ says the writer in this ms., "came 
to Ferta-fir-feic. They kindled a fire at that place on 
the paschal eve. Leoghaire became angry when he 
saw the fire, because that was the privilege of Tara, 
with the Godelians (Gaels), and no person dare light 
a fire in Ireland upon that day, until a fire was first 
kindled on Tara at this festival or solemnity. And the 
Druids said, ' If that fire be not extinguished this night, 
unto him whose fire it shall be shall belong the sove- 
reignty of Ireland for ever.^'^ 



APPENDIX. 185 



No. IV. 



The following extract from the Antiquitates AmeH- 
cancB {HafnicB, 1837), p. 203, contains, I believe, all 
that is known respecting the Irish missionaries to Ice- 
land: — 

^' From the History of Olave, son of Tryggvius. 

" But before Iceland was visited by Norwegians, 
there were men there whom the Northmen call Popes 
(papas, priests). These were Christians j for Irish books, 
bells, and staffs {litui, forsan croziers), which they had 
left behind them, were found, and many other things, 
from which it was evident that they were Christians, 
and had come through the ocean from the west. An- 
glican books also agree that about that time navigation 
increased between these lands. 

" Dicuill, an Irish monk, calls Iceland an uncul- 
tivated island, and relates that certain clercks, thirty 
years before (consequently in the year 795), told him 
that they had sojourned on this island from the kalends 
of February to the kalends of August. The same 
Dicuill bears witness that Irish clergy, a hundred 
years before, to wit 725, visited many islands situated 
in the north of the British ocean, which could be 
reached from the northern islands of Britain, by a 
direct navigation of two days and nights, with full sails 
and a favourable wind ] that these islands, iminhabited 
from the beginning of the world, were at that time 
(825) abandoned by the anchorites, on account of the 
Northmen pirates ; that the same were filled with in- 
numerable sheep, and many different kinds of the 
largest birds. By which description undoubtedly the 
r2 



186 APPENDIX. 

Ferro Isles are indicated, whose name is derived from 
those very sheep. '^ 



No. V. 



Allusion was made (chap. ix. p. 87) to the prac- 
tica that once existed in Ireland by which the clergy 
were obliged to attend their chieftains on the field of 
battle. The following extract from '' the Annals of 
the four Masters^' (for which I am indebted to Mr. 
Curry) contains an account of the way by which the 
clergy obtained at length an exemption from this ser- 
vice : — 

'' Anno 799. Hugh Oirdnighe collected a very large 
force to go into Leinster, and he ravaged Leinster twice 
in one month. He again collected all the men of Ire- 
land (the Lagenians excepted), both laymen and ec- 
clesiastics, and marched until he reached Dan-Cuar, on 
the confines of Meath and Leinster. There came there 
Connmach Coarb of St. Patrick (primate of Armagh), 
with the clergy of Leith Cuinn {i. e. Conn's half, or the 
northern half of Ireland), along with him. The clergy 
did not, however, like to be called on any such expedi- 
tions, and they complained of their hardships to the 
king. The king answered that he would abide by the 
judgment or decision of Fothadh-na-Canoine ; so that 
it was then Fothadh who gave the judgment by which 
the clergy of Ireland were freed from [joining in] ex- 
cursions and expeditions for ever, when he said : 

The Church of the living God, 
Touch her not, nor waste ; 
Let her rights be inviolate, 
As best thev ever were. 



APPENDIX. 187 

Every true monk who is 

Possessed of a pure conscience, 

To the church to which it is due, 

Let him do as any servant. 

Every reprobate from henceforth, 

AYho submits not to rule and obedience, 

Has liberty to join in the battles 

Of Hugh the Great, the son of Niall." 

Fothadh, who delivered this judgment, was a learned 
lecturer of Armagh, celebrated for his acquaintance with 
the canons ; and hence called Fothadh-na-Canoine, or 
Fothadh of the Canons. He accompanied Connmach, 
the archbishop, to the battle ] and, on account of his 
pre-eminent learning, was selected by the king to de- 
termine the matter — one of the manj^ proofs of the esti- 
mation in which such persons were held by the native 
chieftains, even during the confusions of the Danish 
wars. 



^0. VI. 



Dr. Lanigan, Mr. Moore, and most modern Ro- 
manist writers on Irish history, maintain that the in- 
troduction of tithes into Ireland was a consequence of 
the English invasion. They admit that a canon was 
passed respecting them at the Synod of Kells in 1152, 
but assert that they are not enforced until the Synod of 
Cashel in 1172, and that they were altogether unknown 
to the Irish church in earlier times. (See Lanigan, vol. 
iv. p. 80, 218, &c.) In making this assertion, however, 
Dr. Lanigan (from whom others have borrowed it) al- 
together overlooked several canons regulating the pay- 
ment of tithes, of great antiquity, and ascribed to the 
Irish Church on the same grounds as many others that 



188 APPENDIX. 

he most readily receives. I apprehend that ^'in the 
Brehon Laws" (the statute-law of the ancient Irish) 
many stringent enactments are to be found on this sub- 
ject ; and from the same laws it will be seen that not only 
was the tenth of the fruits of the earth to be offered to 
God, but (what is still more remarkable) the tenth mem- 
ber of each family was required to be dedicated to the 
service of religion. When, one may ask, is this ancient 
code of the Irish to be published? If indeed '^the 
laws of a nation form the most instructive portion of 
its history, the history of Ireland," Mr. Hardiman ob- 
serves, " in this respect presents a blank : for the laws 
of this ^ancient nation/ though sufficiently voluminous, 
do not form any portion of its published history. Al- 
though the Irish, from the very beginning of time, had 
been governed and regulated by the code celebrated 
under the name of ' the Brehon Law,' yet the particu- 
lars of that code are as little known at the present day 
as if it had never existed." ^^ The Brehon laws are 
known only by name. Their contents remain undis- 
closed, for the only attempts hitherto made to develop 
them were those of Vallancey, in his Collectanea, vol. i. ; 
and they are scarcely deserving of notice. The originals 
are scattered through various libraries and repositories 
in Ireland, England, and the Continent of Europe ; but 
the greatest portion is supposed to be preserved in 
Trinity College, Dublin."* 

I proceed to set before the reader a translation of the 
principal of the canons to which I have alluded. They 
are taken from Villanueva's edition of the ^' Opuscula 
S. Patricii," Dublin, 1835, p. 171. How these canons 

* See Mr. Hardiman's Introduction to the Statute of Kilkenny, pub- 
lished by the Irish Archaeological Society. 



APPENDIX. 189 

could have escaped the notice of Dr. Lanigan, it is hard 
to sa5\ 

Canon 1. Some authors say that the tithes of cattle 
are only to be offered once, and that for this reason it 
will be holy of holies, ^. e. there is no obligation for 
offering the tithe of them again. But others, with sound 
trustworthiness, affirm that we should give tithes to the 
Lord every year, both of things with and things with- 
out life, forasmuch as we have His gifts every year. 

Canon 2. Also, mth respect to all things (save the 
fruits of the earth) of which a tenth is once offered to 
the Lord, as it is said, whatever is consecrated once to 
the Lord shall be holy of holies to the Lord, they say, 
that a tenth of them need not again be presented, as the 
Doctor Colummanus taught. But of the fruits of the 
earth in each year a tithe ought to be offered, because 
they are produced every year. 

Canon 3. Also, tithes are not only paid in things 
with life, but also those without life. So also first-fruits, 
i. e. the first-fruit of every thing, and the animal which 
is born first in the year : which are alike (that is, fall 
under the same rule) as being the first increase ; but the 
first horn are only of animals, not alone of men, but 
of all animals which it was lawful to sacrifice. 

Canon 4. Also, tithes in cattle; first increase in 
fruits. First increase is whatever is born of cattle 
before others are born in the same year. It is to be 
kno^Ti how much is the weight of the first-fruits — i. e. the 
gomor, as others, i. e, 9 loaves or 12 loaves. Then the 
shew-bread (panes propositionis) a matter of 9 loaves 
or 12 loaves. But of vegetables as much as the hand 
can grasp. These things should be paid in the beginning 
of the summer, and used to be offered once a year to the 



190 APPENDIX. 

priests at Jerusalem. But in the new [Testament] let 
every one offer in the monastery to which he is monk. 
And besides^ charity abounds with the same ; and the 
first-born are offered in males, never in females. (The 
great obscurity of this canon is an internal evidence of 
its antiquity.) 

Canon 5. Also, as others (say), if any one's substance 
be less than a decimum, let him not pay tithes. 

Canon 6. Also, as others, how ought any one to offer 
tithes to the Lord ? If he should have only one heifer 
or cow, let him divide the price of the heifer by ten, 
and let him give the tenth part to the Lord, so also in 
other things. 

The decimum mentioned in canon 5 was probably 
some standard by which certain tithes were measured 
or valued. Whoever had less than a decimum w^as not 
bound to j)ay at all. But according to canon 6 a single 
cow was in value more than a decimum, and therefore 
its owner was bound to pay tithe. 

There is in the Leahhar Breac, fol. 6, a curious pas- 
sage prescribing the manner of taking the tithes of 
cattle. It is as follows : — '' Thus are tithes taken: viz., 
every animal that a person possesses is to be driven out 
through a gap, and every tenth animal of them is to be 
taken for God; except oxen alone, for all legitimate 
tithes are taken from the fruits of their labour." 

In Jocelyn's Life of St. Patrick (cap. 174), we are 
told that all the Irish having submitted themselves to 
that saint, he proceeded to tithe the whole island, with 
its inhabitants of both sexes, and '' commanded every 
tenth head, as well in men as in cattle, to be set apart for 
the Lord's portion. Then making all the men monks, 
the women nuns, he builded numerous monasteries, and 



APPENDIX. 191 

assigned for their support the tenth part of the lands 
and the cattle/^ The exaggeration of this story is 
manifest ; but yet those best acquainted with Irish his- 
tory would not, I think, reject it altogether. 

But again, tithes are mentioned by Gillebert of 
Limerick in his tract De Statu JEccIesice, where he has 
these words : '' Parocliiam appelLo populum, primitiasy 
ohlationes et decimas persolventemJ^ And Dr. Lanigan 
himself acknowledges (vol. iv. p. 284) that tithes were 
perhaps paid in some places through the exertions of 
this same Gillebert, and of St. Malachy. 

There is an interesting article embracing this sub- 
ject in the Dublin Review (March 1844). The writer 
is of opinion, that although St. Patrick '^may have re- 
commended the voluntary payment of tithes/^ yet '^the 
discipline of a tithing system^ ^ was not enforced " by 
civil and ecclesiastical laws'' in Ireland before the Eng- 
lish invasion, and then only within ^^the pale/' Yet 
if the authority of the canons I have quoted be ad- 
mitted, this opinion is untenable; for in that case it 
plainly follows from those canons : — 1. That it was con- 
sidered a religious duty in the ancient Irish Church to 
pay tithes ; 2. That " the discipline of a tithing sys- 
tem'' (somewhat minute, too, by the way) was regu- 
lated by ^^the ecclesiastical laws ;'' and 3. That tithes 
were paid by the ancient Irish Christians. For it will 
scarcely be said, either that the Church in those times 
made laws which it did not carry into force, or that, in 
the best days of the Irish Church, its members resisted 
its just authority. 

The writer of the article alluded to adduces in sup- 
port of his views some Irish canons which relate, in- 
deed, not to tithes, but to oblations, almsgivings, and 



192 APPENDIX, 

other eleemosynary deeds. It is to be regretted that he 
did not see the acts of the ^^Synodus Sapientise/' pub- 
lished in the ^' Opuscula S. Patricii." 



No. VII. 



The following is the enactment referred to^ p. 165: 
In the parliament held at Dublin a.d. 1475, 15, 16 
Edw. IV. was passed the following Act : — 60. Likewise 
at the prayer of Richard^ abbot of the house of St. 
Thomas the Martyr, near Dublin, and James Aylmer : 
Whereas John Walter, parson of MuUahudart, hath 
given and granted to the said abbot and James, all 
manner of tithes and alterages belonging to the said 
parsonage, by his deed, bearing date the first day of 
November, in the thirteenth year of our Sovereign Lord 
that now is, to have and to hold to the said abbot and 
James for a term of twenty years then next ensuing, 
in perfect confidence that the said abbot and James 
should give yearly to one James Maddock six marks, 
until the said James should be promoted to a comjDetent 
benefice, who is at Oxford studying at the University, 
and by the grace of God purposes to be a Doctor of 
Divinity; whereupon, the premises considered, foras- 
much as there are but few in this land who are able to 
teach or preach the word of God, it is ordained, granted, 
and adjudged, by authority of the said parliament, that 
the said James Maddock shall have the said six marks 
yearly, of the said tithes and alterages, until he be pro- 
moted to a competent benefice, and that the incumbent 
for the time being shall have the residue of the said 



APPENDIX. 193 

tithes and alterages, any resignation or change of the 
said parson notwithstanding. "^ 



No. VIII . 



I subjoin here a list of some of the princii^al synods 
held^ of old, in the Irish Church. It is not as complete 
as I could wish; there were, no doubt, many con- 
vened, in the sixth and seventh centuries especially, of 
which no account has been preserved to us. In the suc- 
ceeding centuries the Danish wars would seem to have 
interrupted the synodical assemblies of the Church. 

ANNO 

1. Synod of St. Patrick, held about the year . 450 

2. Another synod of St. Patrick (year uncertain). 

At these councils most of the canons noticed in Chap. 
III. pp. 19, 20, were enacted. 

3. A synod called ^'Synodus Sapientise'' (year 

uncertain). 

The canons relating to tithes were passed in this synod. 

4. A synod called " Synodus Ibernensis" (held 

probably about the same time as the former). 

5. Synod of Cashel or Neagh Fennin . 484 

St. Patrick here reconciled to himself the four bishops, 
Ailbe, Ibar, &c. 

6. A synod that is said to have unjustly excom- 

municated Columb-cille (year uncertain). 

See Adamnan, 1. iii. cap. 3. 

7. A synod of the province of Leinster . 599 

At this sjTiod the archbishopric of Leinster is said to 

1 See Hardiman's Statute of Kilkenny, notes, p. 129, 

S 



194 APPENDIX. 

ANNO 

have been annexed to the see of Ferns. The synod 
was attended by the bishops, clergy, kmg, and people 
of the province. (See Lanigan, vol. ii. p. 338.) 

8. Synod of Old Leiglilin, held in the year . 630 

Its proceedings related to the Easter controversy. (See 
Chap. VI.) 

9. Synod of Febhla, archbishop of Armagh, and 

of Adamnan 692 

A copy (from the Cotton mss.) of some canons passed 
here is to be found in Marsh's Library, at Dublin (class 
V. 3, tab. i. no. 13). 

10. Synod of Fiadh-mac-sengussa . . .1111 

See Chap. XI. 

1 1 . Synod of Usneach, held about the year . . 1111 

It is uncertain whether this synod be not the same as 
the former. (See Lanigan, vol. iv. p. 37.) 

12. Synod of Rath-Breasail .... 1118 

Regulated the dioceses of Ireland. 

13. Synod of Cashel 1134 

14. Synod of MenedachO'Dubhthaich, archbishop 

of Armagh , 1143 

15. Synod of Holm-Patrick . . . .1145 

Agreed to solicit palls from Rome. 

16. Synod of Kells 1152 

The palls were distributed at this synod by the Cardinal 
Paparo. 

17. Synod of Mellifont 1157 

Assembled to consecrate the church of the monastery of 
MelUfont. 

18. Synod of Brigh-Thaig . • . . 1158 

Gelasius, archbishop of Armagh, presided at this synod, 
which ordained that Derry should become an episco- 
pal see (Vid. Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 309.) 

19. Synod of Roscommon .... 1158 

A council of the province of Connaught. Its decrees 
do not appear to be extant. (See Ware and Harris, 
bishops at Armagh, p. 59.) 



APPENDIX. 195 

ANNO 

20. SynodofClane 1162 

Enacted that none should be admitted to teach theology 
who had not first studied at the school of Armagh. 

21. Synod of Athboy 1167 

This assembly was convened by Roderic O'Conor, king 
of Ireland, and was attended by several of the native 
bishops and princes. It passed many enactments re- 
lative to the political state of the country, and to ec- 
clesiastical discipline. (Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 310.) 

22. Synod of Armagh 1170 

It was here decreed that all the English slaves in Ireland 
should be set at liberty. 

23. Synod of Cashel 1172 

Convened by King Henry II. (See Chap. XII.) 

24. Synod of Tuam 1172 

See Lanigan, vol. iv. p. 217. 

25. SynodofWaterford .... 1175 

At this assembly the bulls of Adrian and Alexander were 
first promulgated. 

26. Synod of Dublin 1177 

Convened by Cardinal Vivian, who set forth in it 
Henry's right to the sovereignty of Ireland by virtue 
of the Pope's authority, and inculcated the necessity 
of obedience to him under pain of excommunication. 
(Lanigan, vol. iv. p. 233.) 

27. Synod of Dublin 1183 

Held under John Cumin. (See Chap. XIV. > 

28. Synod of Dublin 1192 

See Ware and Harris, bishops at Cashel, p. 469. 

29. Synod of Dublin 1215 

Held by Henry de Loundres, the archbishop, " wherein 
he established many things profitable for the state of 
the Irish Church." 

30. Synod of Drogheda .... 1237 

See Ware and Harris, bishops at Ai*magh, p. 65. 

31. Synod of Tuam 1251 

32. Synod of Drogheda 1262 

There assisted at this synod not only all the Suffragans 



196 APPENDIX. 

ANNO 

of the province of Armagh, but also those of the pro- 
vince of Tuam, together with the Lord Justice, and 
several of the chief men in the country. The principal 
business of the synod was to establish the authority 
of the archbishops of Armagh over the other pro- 
vinces. (See Ware and Harris, p. 67.) 

33. Synod of Dublin (year uncertain). 

34. Synod of Dublin 1357 

The canons of this synod are published in Wilkin's 
Cone. torn. iii. p. 18, (quoted by Harris). 

35. Synod of Drogbeda .... 1427 

36. Synod of Limerick .... 1453 

Held by John Cantwell, archbishop of Cashel ; its 
canons are extant in Wilkin's Cone. tom. iii. p. 565 
(quoted by Harris). 

37. Synod of Drogbeda 1460 

38. Synodof Fetbard .... 1480 

Held by John Cantwell, archbishop of Cashel. 

39. Synod of Drogbeda . . . . 1495 

Held by Octavian de Palatio, archbishop of Armagh, 
who was very regular in holding councils of his pro- 
vince. (See Ware and Harris, p. 89.) 

40. Synodof Dublin 1496 

Held by Archbishop Walter Fitz-Symons. In this synod 
the bishops of the province taxed themselves for the 
support of a divinity lecturer at Dublin. (See Chapter 
XY.) 



INDEX. 



Adamnan, abbot of Iona,45 ; 
his Life of St. Colum-cille, 
45, 46. 

Adrian IV., Pope, bull of, 
128-130. 

Aengus Celi-de, compiler of 
the Felire Aenguis, 67-69. 

Africa, wife of John de Cour- 
cey, founds the monastery 
of Grey Abbey, 151. 

Agilulf, king of the Lombards, 
58. 

Aid, king of Ireland, 39. 

Aidan, St., 44. 

, king of the British 

Scots, 39. 

Ailbe, St., a bishop in Ire- 
land before the arrival of 
St. Patrick, 3, 13, 14. 

Ailild, archbishop of Armagh, 
33. 

Albinus visits Gaul, 76. 

Alcluaid, or Dunbarton, the 
birthplace of St. Patrick, 6. 

Aleyn, John, dean of St. Pa- 
trick's, founds an hospital 
for the sick, 164. 

Alexander III., Pope, rescript 
of, confirming the bull of 
Adrian, 131. 

Anatolius, bishop of Laodicea, 
a reformer of the paschal 
cycle, bo. 

Anegray, a monasteiy in the 
forest of the Yosges, found- 
ed by Columbanus, 54. 



Anselm, St., his letters to the 
Irish bishops, 102. 

Architecture, ancient Irish, 
148 ; introduction of Go- 
thic, 15]. 

Ardmore, o. 

Armagh, see of, founded by 
St. Patrick, 14; usurpation 
of, in the tenth centuiy, 90 ; 
school of, 27. 

Austin, St., archbishop of 
Canterbury, 4. 

Baithen, St., succeeds Colum- 
ciUe at lona, 43. 

Bangor, monastery at, found- 
ed by St. Comgall, 33 ; 
destroyed by the Danes, 
83 ; rebuilt by St. Malachy, 
109. 

Baptism, seasons for celebrat- 
ing public baptisms in the 
Irish Church, 19 ; chrism 
not used at, by the Irish, 
in the time of Lanfranc, 99 ; 
vessels employed in, not to 
be applied to common use, 
142. 

Bee, monastery of, in Nor- 
mandy, 102. 

Bede, Venerable, 45, 51. 

Beg-erin, monastery of, found- 
ed by St. Ibar, 3. 

Benignus accompanies St. 
Patrick to Tara, 12; suc- 
ceeds him at Armagh, 26. 



s 2 



198 



INDEX. 



Bernard, St, 112, 113. 

Bicknor, Alexander de, at- 
tempts to establish an uni- 
versity at Dublin, 165 ; its 
failure, 166. 

Bishops in Ireland consecrated 
by only one bishop, 98 ; 
Irish canons relating to, 20, 
21. 

Bishoprics, Irish, 34 ; En- 
glishmen promoted to, 137. 

Bobbio, monastery of, founded 
by Columbanus, oT. 

Boniface, St., 75. 

IV., Pope, epistle 

of Columbanus to, 58. 

Brebon laws, 188. 

Brian Boru, monarch of Ire- 
land, killed at the battle of 
Clontarf, 85 ; buried at Ar- 
magh, 86. 

Bridgit, St., establishes a con- 
vent at Kildare, 28. 

Calphornius, father of St. 
Patrick, 6. 

Canons, Irish, 19, 20; of the 
synod of Dublin, 139-144; 
of the synod of Cashel, 125. 

Canon of the Irish clergy, 
commanding all English 
slaves in Ireland to be set 
free, 147. 

Carinthia, province of, 75. 

Cashel, bishopric of, founded 
by Cormac MacCuUenan, 
88; synod held at, 124; 
Psalter of, 88. 

Celestine, Pope, sends Palla- 
dius into Ireland, 4; sanc- 
tions the mission of Patrick, 
9. 

Celsus, archbishop of Armagh, 
105 ; appoints Malachy his 



successor, 110; his death, 
ib. 

Charlemagne sends for Cle- 
mens and Albinus, 77. 

Charles the Bald, the patron 
of Scotus Erigena, 79. 

Chrism not a necessary part 
of baptism, 99. 

Clairvaux, monastery of, 112, 
113. 

Clemens visits Gaul, 76. 

Clergy, canons relating to the 
Irish, 19-21. 

Clonard, school of, 29, 30, 
37. 

Clonenagh, monastery of, 68. 

Clonmacnoise, monastery of, 
34, 83. 

Clontarf, battle of, 85. 

Colman, decides the Dal-ara- 
dian dispute between the 
Irish and Scotch monarchs, 
41. 

Colman, bishop of Lindis- 
farne, 51 ; leaves England 
in consequence of the pas- 
chal disputes, ib. note; es- 
tablishes two monasteries 
in Ireland, ib. 

Coloman, a priest, accom- 
panies St. KiHan from Ire- 
land, 73. 

Columbanus, St., life of, 53- 
64 ; his monastic rule, 62 ; 
epistles of, 58-62. 

Colum-cille, St., life of, 36- 
44 ; various hymns ascribed 
to, 43. 

Comorbans, some remarks 
upon the, 92. 

Conall, a brother of King 
Leogaire, gives St. Patrick 
a site for a church, 13. 

, king of the Dal-ara- 



INDEX. 



199 



dian Scots, grants lona to 
St. Columba, 39. 

Confession practised by the 
ancient Irish, 21, 66; re- 
vived by St. Malachy, 109, 
110. 

Conon, Pope, 73. 

Cormac MacCullenan, bishop 
of Cashel, 88 ; compiles the 
Psalter of Cashel, ib. \ dies 
in battle, ib. 

Cormac's chapel at Cashel not 
founded by Cormac Mac- 
CuUenan, 89. 

Coroticus, or Carodoc, an 
epistle to the Christian sub- 
jects of, 15. 

Courcey, John de, founds se- 
veral monasteries, 151. 

Cranely, Thomas, archbishop 
of Dublin, 162. 

Culdees, some remarks upon 
the, Q5 ; their monastic 
rules, QQ. 

Cumin, John, first English 
archbishop of Dublin, 137 ; 
first Irish bishop ordained 
at Rome, ib. ; holds a synod 
at Dublin, 139. 

Cummian, his letter about the 
Easter dispute, 50. 

Dal-aradia, ancient territory 
of, 7, 9 ; disputes respect- 
ing, between the Scots and 
Irish, 39-il. 

Danes invade Ireland, 82 ; 
effects of theii' inroads, 82, 
83 ; when converted to 
Christianity, ib. ; refuse to 
submit to the archbishop of 
Armagh, ib. ; defeated at 
Clontarf, 85. 

Declau, St., a bishop in Ire- 



land before the arrival of 
St. Patrick, 3, 13. 

Dermod MacMurchad, king 
of Leinster, 121 ; betrays 
Ireland to the English, 122. 

Derry, monastery of, founded 
by St. Colum-cille, 37. 

Dervorgalj wife of O'Ruarc, 
121. 

Dicho, St. Patrick's first con- 
vert in Ulster, 9, 10. 

Dionysius the Areopagite, 
work attributed to, trans- 
lated by Erigena, 79. 

Disert-Aenguis, 68. 

Dob dan, a Greek, accompanies 
Virgilius from Ireland, 79. 

Domnald, an Irish bishop, 
100. 

Drogheda, a parliament held 
at, 166. 

Druids, the, 22, 23. 

Drumceat, assembly of, 40. 

Dublin, bishopric of, 81, 82 ; 
efforts made to estabhsh an 
university at, 165 ; synod 
of, 139 ; raised to an arch- 
bishopric, 119. 

Dubtach, or Duach, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, 26. 

Dubtach the Bard converted 
by St. Patrick, 13. 

Dunbarton, or Alcluaid, the 
birthplace of St. Patrick, 
6. 

Durrow, book of, a manu- 
script of the Four Gospels, 
said to be written by Colum- 
cille, 43. 

Dundalk, Richard of, see Fitz- 
Ralph. 

Easter, disputes in the Irish 
Church concerning, 47 ; de- 



200 



INDEX. 



putation to Rome on the 
subject, 49 ; their return, 
49 ; synod at Whitby, 50 ; 
termination of the contro- 
versy, 50. 

Egberct, a British monk, 50. 

Emly, see of, St. Ailbe its first 
bishop, 3 ; the next in rank 
to Armagh, 104. 

Enda. a brother of King Leo- 
gaire, bestows land on the 
Church, 13. 

English arrive in Ireland, 123; 
English slaves in Ireland 
ordered to be set free, 147 ; 
English laws denied to the 
native Irish, 154; bad ef- 
fects of the early English 
policy, 127> 152 159. 

Erenachs, some observations 
concerning, 93. 

Etchen, St., ordains Colum- 
cille a priest instead of a 
bishop, through mistake, 
38. 

Excommunication, abuses of, 
171-175. 

Fiadh-mac-sengussa, synod of, 
106. 

Fiech, bishop of Stetty, 13. 

Fman, St, 44. 

Finian, St., of Clonard, 30; 
his character, 31. 

, abbot of Mo- 

ville, 33, 36. 

Fintan, abbot of Taghmon, 
defends the Irish paschal 
calculations, 49. 

Fitz-Adelm, WiUiam, 128. 

Fitz- Ralph, Richard, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, conse- 
crated in England, 168 ; ef- 
forts to improve the con- 



dition of his clergy, ib. ; 
disputes between the beg- 
ging friars, ih. ; his death, 
170. 

Fitz-Symons, Walter, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, 164, 
165. 

Flan Sionna, monarch of Ire- 
land ; contests between him 
and Cormac of Cashel, 88. 

Franconia, province of, con- 
verted by Kilian, 73. 

Foclut, the wood, 8. 

Gartan in Donegal, Colum- 
cille born at, ZQ. 

Geilana, wife of Duke Gor- 
bert, puts St. Kilian to 
death, 74. 

Gelasius, archbishop of Ar- 
magh, 111, 113, 124. 

Germain, St., bishop 'of Aux- 
erre, 5, 8. 

Germanus, or Gorman, 36. 

Gille, or Gillebert, bishop of 
Limerick, 102 ; a friend of 
St. Anselm, 99 ; his efforts 
to introduce the Romish 
customs into Ireland, 103 ; 
the first apostolic legate in 
Ireland, 106. 

Giraldus Cambrensis, 139 - 
141. 

Glendaloch, monastery of, 34 ; 
destroyed by the Danes, 81 ; 
suppression of the see of, 
119. 

Gothric, Danish king of Dub- 
Hn, ^5. 

Gozbert, duke of Franconia, 
converted by St. Kilian, 73. 

Gray's ode of the Fatal Sis- 
ters, 85. 

Grey Abbey, founded by Af- 



INDEX. 



201 



rica, wife of De Courcey, 
151. 

Gregory I., St., 55, 61 note. 

Gregory, first bishop of Dub- 
lin, 84. 

HeniT II., king of England, 
receives Dermot Mac]Mur- 
chad, 122 ; obtains a bull 
from Pope Adrian, permit- 
ting him to invade Ireland, 
128; arrival at Waterford, 
123; holds the synod of 
Cashel, 124 ; his suspicions 
of Archbishop Laurence, 
135. 

HUarius, bishop of Rome, 56. 

Holmpatrick, isle of, 9 ; synod 
held at, 113. 

Holy Cross, abbey of, 152. 

Honorius I., Pope, his letter 
to the Irish bishops, 48. 

Hv- Garchon, ancient territoiy 
of, 5. 

James the Great, St., said to 
have preached in Ireland, 
2. 

larlath, archbishop of Ar- 
magh, 26. 

Ibar, St., 3 ; unwilling to sub- 
mit to St. Patrick, 14. 

Iceland, missionaries to, 80, 
81, 185. 

Jerome, St., 56, 57. 

Inisbofinde, Colman founds a 
monastery at, 51 note. 

Iniscattery, monastery of, 31. 

Invocation of saints, when 
introduced into the Irish 
Church, 18, 69. 

John Scotus Erigena, 77 ; 
Mr. Hallam's opinion of, 79 
note. 



lona given to St. Columba 
by King ConaU, 39 ; mon- 
astery of, founded, ib. ; 
monks of, 44, 45, 49, 51 ; 
monastery destroyed by the 
Danes, M. 

Irenaeus, St., 2. 

Kells, the book of, 43 ; synod 
of, 118. 

Kevin, or Coemgen, St., 65. 

Kiaran, St., one of the bishops 
in Ireland before St. Pa- 
ti'ick, 3, 13. 

' , of Clonmacnoise, 65, 

Kildare, convent of, 28 ; 
church of, 29 ; bishopric 
of, founded, 28. 

Kihan, St., 70 ; his martyr- 
dom, 73. 

Lanfranc, St., archbishop of 
Canterbury, 95-101. 

Laserian, abbot of Old Leigh- 
lin, defends the Roman 
Easter, 49. 

Laurence, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 48. 

, archbishop of Dub- 
lin, see O' Toole. 

Lech, John, archbishop of 
Dublin, 165. 

Leighlin, synod of, 48, 49. 

Leogaire, monarch of Ireland, 
12, 13. 

Limerick, one of the Danish 
cities, 81 ; cathedral of, re- 
paired by the citizens, 163 
note. 

Luxeuil, monastery of, 54, 
57, 63, 65. 

MacCarthy, Cormac, king of 
Munster, 89. 



202 



INDEX. 



MacCuUenan, Cormac, king 
and bishop of Cashel, 84. 

MacMurchad, Dermod, king 
of Leinster, 121, 122. 

Malachy, St., archbishop of 
Armagh, his life and ac- 
tions, 107-117. 

Malchus, bishop of Lismore, 
109. 

Mapilton, Hugh, bishop of 
Orsory, 162. 

Martin, St., of Tours, 8. 

Mayo of the Saxons, monas- 
tery at, 51 note. 

Mellifont, abbey of, 113. 

Milcho, 7, 9, 10. 

Moelruan, abbot of Tallaght, 
supposed to be the founder 
of the Culdees, 65. 

Nathi, prince of Hy-Garchon, 

5 
Nicholas, abbot of Walling- 

ford, presides at the synod 

of Waterford, 128. 

O' Brian, Donald, king of 
Munster, 152. 

O'Carol, prince of Oriel, 113. 

O' Conor, Roderic, monarch 
of Ireland, 121, 124, 135. 

O'Hedien, Richard, archbi- 
shop of Cashel, 138 

O'Mulloy, Albin, bishop of 
Ferns, attends the Synod of 
Dublin, 140. 

O'Ruarc, Terence, prince of 
Breifny, 121. 

O' Toole, Laurence, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, 133 ; at- 
tends the Lateran council, 
135 ; dies in Normandy, 
136 ; canonised by Pope 
Honorius III., i^. 



Palladius sent to the Irish, 
4 ; the failure of his mission, 
5. 

Paparo, Cardinal, attends the 
synod of Kells, 118; dis- 
tributes palls to the Irish 
archbishops, 119. 

Patrick, St., his life and ac- 
tions, 6-14; his confession, 
14 ; epistle to the Christian 
subjects of Coroticus, 15. 

Patrick, bishop of Dublin, 
98. 

Paul, St., said to have visited 
Britain, 2. 

Popes, temporal, power of 
the, 177, 178. 

Pothinus, 2. 

Prayers for the dead, 19. 

Psalter of Cashel, 85 ; origin 
of the name Psalter, ib. 
note. 

Purgatoiy, the doctrine of, 
unknown to the ancient 
Irish, 19. 

Rath-breasail, synod of, 107. 

Rathlin, isle of, plundered by 
the Danes, 82. 

Richard of Dundalk, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, 168 ; 
his disputes with the beg- 
ging friars, i^^ \ his death, 
170. 

Rome, see of, 21, 49, 59, 73, 
104, 109, 111, 179. 

Rodiart, William, first chan- 
cellor of the University of 
Dublin, 165. 

Ruadhan, orRodan, St., curses 
Tara, 11. 

Rupert, St., the cathedral of 
Saltzburg dedicated in me- 
mory of, 75. 



INDEX. 



203 



Saltzburg, Virgilius first bi- 
shop of, 75 ; cathedral of, 
ib. 

Saul, a church built at, by 
St. Patrick, 10; he ends 
his days at, 14. 

Schools, ancient Irish, 27, 
29. 

School of Clonard, 29, 30. 

Scots, the Irish called, 4 ; the 
Dal-aradian, 39. 

Sees, Irish, 119. 

Senanus, St., founds the mon- 
astery of Iniscattery, 31. 

Senile, the instructor of St. 
Columbanus, 53. 

Sinell, St. Patrick's first con- 
vert in Ireland, 9. 

Simony, 86, 87, 143, 145, 
146. 

Slavery in Ireland, 7. 

Strongbow, Richard, earl of 
Chepstow and Pembroke, 
122. 

Succat, St. Patrick's baptismal 
name, 6. 

Supremacv, papal, 59, 114- 
117. 

Synods, list of Irish, Appen- 
dix, 193-196. 

Tallaght, monastery at, Qo, 68. 

, martyrology of, Qd. 

Tara, St. Patrick's ^isit to, 
11, 12 ; national assemblv 



held at, 23 ; cursed bv St. 
Rodan, 11. 

Theuderic, king of Burgundy, 
57. 

Tithes enforced in Ireland, 
118, 125, 144; old canons 
relative to the payment of, 
Appendix, 187-191. 

Totman, a deacon, accom- 
panies St. Kihan into Ger- 
many, 73. 

Tours, monastery of, 8. 

Trim, church of, 79. 

Tuam, made an archiepiscopal 
see by Cardinal Paparo ,119. 

Ussher, James, archbishop of 
Armagh, 21, 27, 62, 67, 
79. 

Victorius, presbyter of Li- 
moges, 55, oQ. 

Virgilius, bishop of Saltzburg, 
75, 76. 

Vosges, forest of the, 54. 

Waterford, a city possessed 
by the Danes, 81 ; its first 
bishop, 83 ; synod of, 128. 

Wicklow, St. Patrick lands 
near the town of, 9. 

Whitby, synod of, 50. 

Wurtzburg, 72. 

Zachary, Pope, 76. 



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